Catholic bishop killed in Turkey, driver detained

Thu Jun 3, 2010 5:51pm EDT


* Driver detained in stabbing of leading cleric

* Second Catholic clergyman killed in Turkey since 2006

* Vatican and local official rule out political motives

(Adds Vatican statements on motives)

By Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL, June 3 (Reuters) - A Catholic bishop who was a leading figure in Christian communities in the Middle East was stabbed to death at his home in southern Turkey on Thursday, and police arrested his driver in connection with the attack.

The Vatican and the local governor ruled out political motives in the murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar for Anatolia, in Iskenderun. Previous attacks on Christians have raised concerns about their safety in Muslim Turkey.

Padovese, 63, was due to travel to Cyprus on Friday to join Pope Benedict, who will talk about violence against Christian minorities in the Middle East during a weekend visit there.

"I can only express shock, worry and solidarity with the local Catholic community over this," chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told Reuters in Rome.

Hatay Provincial Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz told the state-run news agency Anatolian there was no immediate evidence of a political motive and the bishop's driver had been arrested.

Lombardi said Padovese's secretary had told him the driver had recently seemed depressed. "Political motivations for the attack, or other motivations linked to socio-political tensions, are to be excluded," he added on Vatican Radio.

Four years ago Roman Catholic priest Andrea Santoro was murdered in the Turkish Black Sea town of Trabzon by a teenager with suspected links to ultra-nationalists. As his bishop, Padovese celebrated the murdered priest's funeral mass.

In 2007, three members of a Bible publishing company, one of them a German citizen, were tortured and killed in Malatya.



FRIEND OF TURKEY

Padovese, an Italian citizen, served as president of the Turkish Bishops Conference and worked for the return of Christian sites seized by Turkish authorities in the past.

"As he was a friend of Turkey, about which he produced important works, Padovese's death is a significant loss, in religious and scientific terms," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We express our condolences to our Christian citizens and the Catholic community."

Turkey has about 100,000 Christians in a population of 71 million.

Padovese was appointed to his post in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun near the biblical city of Antioch in 2004. An apostolic vicariate is established in certain regions where there are too few Catholics for a diocese.

About 100 Catholics live in Hatay province, home to the cave Church of St. Peter, reputed to be where Jesus's disciple led the first mass, and the birthplace in Tarsus of Saint Paul. The area prides itself on its religious tolerance.

It is home to 2,000 Greek Orthodox Christians and a tiny Jewish community. Many of the Muslim inhabitants adhere to the Alevi tradition, considered a liberal strain of Islam.

"We are in a state of sadness and shock. This is something you would never expect in Hatay. It is a safe place," said Fadi Hurigil, head of the Greek Orthodox Church Foundation of Antakya, the Turkish name for Antioch, by telephone.

A joint service planned by the Orthodox Christians and Catholics of Hatay this month was now likely to be cancelled, he said. (Additional reporting by Philip Pullella and Silvia Aloisi in Rome and Tom Heneghan in Paris; editing by Andrew Roche)



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