By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Witnesses now say that the man responsible for the brutal murder of a bishop in Turkey last Thursday, an act not thought to be politically or ideologically motivated, apparently climbed onto the roof of his house moments after the killing and shouted: “I killed the great Satan! Allah Akbar!”
AsiaNews is reporting that a funeral Mass was held yesterday for Msgr. Luigi Padovese, bishop of Iskenderun, in Anatolia who was murdered on June 3 by 26 year-old Murat Altun, who lived next door.
The Vatican immediately decried the murder and called for prayer for the slain priest and the heartbroken flock he left behind.
Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said, “What has happened is terrible if we think about other examples of bloodshed in Turkey, like the murder of Fr Santoro a few years ago. [. . .] Let us pray that the Lord may reward him for his great service to the Church and that Christians not be discouraged,” but instead “follow his strong witness and continue to profess their faith in the region.”
Pope Benedict XVI, who was told of the murder while en route to Cyprus last week, said the act “can not be attributed to Turkey or the Turks, and should not obscure dialogue.”
The murder was at first thought to be a random act of violence by a madman, rather than a politically or ideologically motivated killing, but new details are casting doubt on these original assumptions.
Doctors who performed the autopsy on Mgr. Padovese found knife wounds all over his body, with eight of those wounds to the heart. In addition, he was almost completely decapitated.
It is now believed that the bishop was stabbed in his house and had enough strength to drag himself outside where he cried out for help. It was here that his attacker was believed to have tried to cut off his head.
Witnesses say that immediately after the murder, Altun climbed on the roof of the house shouted: “I killed the great Satan! Allah Akbar! ”
“This call coincides perfectly with the idea of beheading, making sense that it is like a ritual sacrifice against evil,” AsiaNews reports. “This correlates with the murders of ultranationalist groups and Islamic fundamentalists who apparently want to eliminate Christians from Turkey.”
Moreover, according to the June 4 edition of the Turkish newspaper, Milliyet, the murderer told police his actions were the result of a “divine revelation.”
The killer, who at first defended himself with claims of insanity is now saying that the bishop was a homosexual who forced him to suffer abuse, thereby making the killing an act of “legitimate defense.”
The funeral ceremony was held in the Church of the Annunciation and was concelebrated by the apostolic nuncio, Mgr. Antonio Lucibello, the Latin bishops of Istanbul and Izmir, the Armenian Catholic Bishop of Istanbul, as well as the priests in Turkey and representatives of international embassies.
The body of Msgr. Padovese is expected to be returned to Italy early next week where it will be buried in his native Milan.
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