Rome cardinal says he will open sainthood cause for murdered priest

Published: 2006-02-10

ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar for Rome, said he intends to open a cause for the sainthood of Father Andrea Santoro, a Rome missionary murdered in Turkey. "In the process for beatification and canonization I intend to open, we will respect fully all of the rules and times of the church, but already I am internally persuaded that all of the elements of Christian martyrdom are present in the sacrifice of Father Andrea," Cardinal Ruini said Feb. 10 as he celebrated the priest's funeral. Father Santoro, a priest of the Diocese of Rome who had worked in Turkey since 2000, was shot and killed Feb. 5 as he prayed in St. Mary Church in the Black Sea coastal city of Trebizond. Turkish police arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with the murder. Church rules would require Cardinal Ruini to wait five years before opening the official process to have Father Santoro declared a martyr, a formal recognition that he was killed out of hatred for his faith.

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