Apostolic Vicar in Anatolia Dead at 63
Stabbed to Death by Personal Driver
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 3, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Bishop Luigi Padovese,
apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was stabbed to death today in Iskenderun,
Turkey, hours before he was to travel to Cyprus to meet with Benedict
XVI. He was 63.
Authorities
arrested the Capuchin bishop's driver, who is said to be mentally unstable
and reportedly confessed to the crime.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press
office, called the incident "a horrible and incredible fact."
"We are deeply dismayed," he said in a statement today. "What
happened is terrible, also considering other acts of violence in Turkey
a few years ago such as the murder of Father Santoro."
A 16-year-old Muslim killed Father Santoro, 61, on Feb. 5, 2006, while
praying in the church of Trabzon, at the height of the crisis unleashed
by the publication in some Western newspapers of caricatures offensive
to Islam.
"Let us pray the Lord," Father Lombardi added, "that
he may reward [Bishop Padovese] for his dedicated service to the Church
and that Christians may draw from his strong witness the courage to
continue to profess their faith in the region."
Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, the apostolic nuncio to Turkey, said
today that "the news of the homicide was a cold shower."
He reported that he had no details of the incident, except for the
gunman, "who was his driver, a person that Bishop Padovese always
treated very well in keeping with his style."
"We are all dismayed," he added. "We are a small community,
the leaders are also few and advanced in years. There is the danger
that this community will remain marked."
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops' conference,
and the secretary-general, Bishop Mariano Crociata, expressed "profound
sorrow" for the murder of Bishop Padovese, a native of Italy.
"While we deplore the barbarous killing, we are united to the grief
of the faithful of that church, which yet again is tried so harshly.
We express our most profound closeness and solidarity and that of the
whole Italian episcopate," the bishops said in a note sent to the
nuncio to Turkey.
"We assure you of our fervid prayer for the repose of the soul
of Bishop Padovese in the certainty that the Lord will grant his good
and faithful servant the prize of eternal life," the note added.
Luigi Padovese was born in Milan in 1947. He was ordained a Capuchin
priest in 1973.
In 2004, he was named apostolic vicar to Anatolia, and made a bishop
that same year.
Bishop Padovese: Witness of Dialogue and Peace
Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia Was "Good and Wise Man"
By Antonio Gaspari
ROME, JUNE 3, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A holy man has died, a martyr of
dialogue and peace, a personal friend of ZENIT's editorial staff. It
can only be hoped that his murder will not fuel divisions, extremism
and conflict.
Bishop Luigi Padovese, 63, apostolic vicar of Anatolia and president
of the Turkish episcopal conference, was a good and wise man.
A high-level scholar, titular professor of the chair of Patristics
at the Pontifical University Antonianum, at which he was director of
the Institute of Spirituality for some 16 years. He also taught at the
Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Accademia Alfonsina.
Among the major experts on St. Paul, he published several volumes,
the last of which was co-authored with Oriano Graziella is entitled
"Guida alla Turchia, I luoghi di San Paolo e delle origini cristiane"
(Guide to Turkey, the Places of St. Paul and of Christianity's Origins).
A pastor with a great heart, abounding with good words, never controversial,
he was committed to building and healing relationships in order to see
reciprocal trust, dialogue and peace grow and consolidate between persons
of different religions.
In an address published in "Mondo e Missione" in 2007, he
described himself as "friend and lover of Turkey," and he
warned against the instrumentalization of Islam for political and nationalistic
ends.
The Holy See had great hopes for his work. For 10 years he was visitor
of the Pontifical Oriental Institute for the Congregation for Eastern
Churches, in addition to being consultant of the Congregation for Saints'
Causes. On Oct. 11, 2004, he was appointed as the Pope's apostolic vicar
of Anatolia.
Bishop Padovese put passion and love into the care of persons, either
to revive the various Turkish Christian communities or to nourish good
relations with Islam and the other Christian communities.
On Wednesday, he met with the Turkish authorities to address the problems
linked to the Christian minority, and on Friday he would have gone to
Cyprus to meet Benedict XVI, who is traveling to the island to publish
the "instrumentum laboris" (working document) of the Special
Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops.
The apostolic vicar of Anatolia succeeded in finding words of peace
and kindness even when faced with terrible situations.
When Father Andrea Santoro, a "fidei donum" priest, was killed
in Trabzon in 2006, Bishop Padovese said at the funeral Mass: "We
forgive the one who carried out this gesture. It is not by destroying
those who think differently that conflicts are resolved. The only way
to follow is that of dialogue, mutual knowledge, closeness and sympathy.
"But as long as on television channels and newspapers we see programs
that put Christianity in a bad light and show it as an enemy of Islam
(and vice versa), how can we think of a climate of peace?"
And, referring to the sacrifice of Father Santoro, he added: "Whoever
wished to do away with his physical presence, does not know that his
witness is now stronger."
Commenting between tears the death of Bishop Padovese, Father Andrea
Santoro's sister, Maddalena, said to Apcom agency: "[Bishop] Padovese
was truly an authentic Christian, and he manifested this and showed
it with his kindness. There was not ambiguity in his behavior, he did
not make distinctions and trusted everyone fully, including his driver.
"I hope that eyes will open in Turkey to try to understand and
comprehend what there is behind this situation. Because Muslims must
also be able to accept Christians, without fearing that we wish to convert
people."
Adnkronos reports that in an interview last May 26, Bishop Padovese
explained, "Among the fruits of the Pauline Year and of so many
pilgrimages that continue to arrive, there is also the greater awareness
of local Christians of the preciousness of these places for the Christian
tradition. The presence of pilgrims reawakens the certainty of living
in a Holy Land.
"Another positive effect has to do with Muslims. They see that
Christians arrive who, far from enjoying the place as tourists, place
themselves in an attitude of prayer, and that helps to overcome the
reciprocal diffidence that accumulated in the past. I think that the
most beautiful testimony that can be given Turkey is that of seeing
men and women who pray."
ZENIT spoke with him often, and he was always attentive and fearful
because of the delicate role he was playing. In one of the last meetings
with him, he communicated to us his concern for his driver who was not
very well -- the same driver who stabbed him.
We are dismayed by all that has happened, but we renew our trust in
Divine Providence, fostering the hope that this bloodshed will not lead
to conflict, but rather inspire peace and reconciliation.
Nouvelles
du 04-06-2010