Pope mourns death of Italian priest gunned down in Turkish church

Published: 2006-02-06

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI condemned all forms of violence as he mourned the death of an Italian missionary priest gunned down while praying in a church in Turkey. The pope noted the "generosity and apostolic zeal" with which Father Andrea Santoro carried out his work as a missionary priest "in favor of the Gospel and in service of those marginalized and in need." The pope made his remarks in a telegram addressed to Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia, the Asian part of modern Turkey. In the telegram released Feb. 6 to journalists, the pope assured Father Santoro's small Catholic community of his spiritual closeness to them "at this moment of sorrow" as he "firmly deplored" every form of violence. The 60-year-old Italian priest was part of the Vatican's "Fidei Donum" program, which sends priests to help in the missions for a fixed period of time. In the afternoon of Feb. 5, the Italian priest was shot twice while he was praying in his parish, St. Mary Church, in the Black Sea coastal city of Trebizond. Father Santoro, from the Diocese of Rome, had been serving in Turkey for about 10 years, according to the Italian missionary news service AsiaNews.

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