Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Iskenderun (Agenzia Fides) - “Fr. Andrea was a man of dialogue, he was not a man to argue or to proselytise. His only thought was to dialogue with the local people and in fact this is required of the situation here where our presence is very limited” said Bishop Luigi Padovese, Vicar apostolic of Anatolia, with regard to the assassination of Italian missionary Fr Andrea Santoro, a priest offered for mission by the diocese of Rome, who was shot dead as he prayed after the celebration of Mass in the afternoon of Sunday 5 February in the tiny local Catholic church at Trabzon, in Anatolia,.
“Fr Andrea came here as a witness - the Bishop continued -, he left Rome where he had served as parish priest for several years and came to this tiny Christian reality because he loved the Church and loved her origins here, where she was born and where she opened to the world. Drawn by this knowledge and also by a firm desire to dialogue with the Muslim world he came here. He came as a witness and as a witness he died.”
“His murder is not easy to explain, although it would appear to have been committed out of religious hatred” the Apostolic Vicar said making an appeal for solidarity and support: “I would like to ask Catholics in general not to forget about us. We need to feel we have the support of Christians everywhere because living here in the present situation of tragic events is very difficult. But this is a land which needs to be loved, and the Turkish people too need to be loved because they are a good people. However it is also necessary to help everyone without exception to distance themselves from the present wave of violence”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 6/2/2006, righe 18, parole 273)
