Roman Catholic bishop murdered in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A Roman Catholic bishop was stabbed to death in southern Turkey on Thursday, a day before he was scheduled to leave for Cyprus to meet with the pope, officials and reports said.

Luigi Padovese, the pope's apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was attacked outside his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. Dogan news agency video footage of the scene showed the bishop lying dead in front of a building.

Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz, the governor for the province of Hatay, said police immediately caught the suspected killer.

He said the man, identified only as Murat A., was Padovese's driver for the last four and a half years and was mentally unstable.

"The initial investigation shows that the incident is not politically motivated," Lekesiz said. "We have learned that the suspect had psychological problems and was receiving treatment."

Padovese, who is the equivalent of the bishop for the Anatolia region, was scheduled to leave for Cyprus on Friday to meet with the pope, who is visiting the island, and fellow bishops from around the region for preparations before the church's synod of bishops on the Middle East. The Synod is scheduled for October.

No one answered phones at his church in Iskenderun.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told The Associated Press in Rome that the Vatican felt "immense pain, consternation, bewilderment and stupor" over the death and noted that it showed the "difficult conditions" that the Catholic community in the region lives in.

He said the pope's upcoming visit to Cyprus and the upcoming synod of bishops on the Middle East showed "how the universal church is in solidarity with this community."

The killing is the latest in a string of attacks in recent years on Christians in Turkey, where Christians make up less than 1 percent of the 70 million population.

In 2007, a Roman Catholic priest in the western city of Izmir, Adriano Franchini, was stabbed and slightly wounded in the stomach by a 19-year-old man after Sunday Mass. The man was arrested.

The same year, a group of men entered a Bible-publishing house in the central Anatolian city of Malatya and killed three Christians, including a German national. The five alleged killers are now standing trial for murder.

The killings — in which the victims were tied up and had their throats slit — drew international condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can protect its religious minorities.

In 2006, amid widespread anger in Islamic countries over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a 16-year-old boy shot dead a Catholic priest, Father Andrea Santoro, as he prayed in his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon. The boy was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

In a 2006 telephone interview with The Associated Press, following another knife attack that injured another priest, Padovese expressed concern over the safety of Catholics priests in Turkey.

"The climate has changed," he said. "It is the Catholic priests that are being targeted."

And also...

(National Turk) - Luigi Padovese the bishop of Anatolia and Hatay province, in the city of Iskenderun, Northern Turkey has died of his injuries in hospital after being found in a pool of blood at his home.

It was alleged that the Hatay bishop was stabbed by his chauffeur named only as Murat and was rushed to hospital in a critical condition early Thursday morning.

It was later announced that the Bishop who was the spiritual leader of Catholics in Iskenderun and the pope’s apostolic vicar in Anatolia had died from his injuries.

Last Minute update – The man who allegedly stabbed Luigi Padovese has been arrested by Turkish police. Who has been identified as Murat A was the driver of the Bishop.

Murat A had been the private chauffeur of Padovese for 4.5 years.

The Hatay governor, Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz spoke of his sorrow over the loss of Luigi Padovese and stated that the assailant was caught by the Iskenderun police with the weapon used to kill the Bishop, after a city wide manhunt.

Governor Lekesiz said to Turkish media “We know Padovese very closely, his death is very upsetting. The assailant has been caught with the murder weapon. From initial investigation, the attack is not related to politics. We have found out that the assailant has psychological problems and was taking treatment. It looks as though the murder of Padovese was a personal matter. The incident is being investigated thoroughly.”

Padovese was assigned as the Bishop of Iskenderun in November 8th 2004 at a ceremony in the Iskenderun Catholic Church that a representative of the Venerable Pope John Paul II had also attended.

He had condemned Israel

Bishop Padovese was also took part in the opening ceremony of the newly restored Süryani Church at Hatay, Iskenderun just two day ago spoke of his grief for the death of the six soldiers in Turkey on Monday and condemned the attack by Israeli soldier on the Turkish led Flotilla Aid ships.

At the speech he made during the ceremony he had talked of his love and satisfaction of the peace and harmony at Iskenderun.

Padovese said “We greet restoration of this Church with great gratitude and a symbol of the governments support for various religions and cults being practiced in Turkey.”

Anatolian Bishop

The Bishop of Anatolia covers almost the entire half of the Eastern side of Turkey, an area of 480.000 Km2. It covers areas from the Mediterranean sea to the Black sea and from Ankara to the Iraqi border.