Apparently so.
Pope: No Religious Motive in Bishop’s Death
June 4, 2010 - 12:04 PM
by: Greg Burke
Just hours after a Catholic bishop was killed in Turkey, the Vatican said it was the work of a mentally unstable man, and Pope Benedict also tried to downplay the incident on Friday.
Speaking to reporters on his way to a three-day trip to Cyprus, Benedict said while the circumstances of the killing are still not clear, it was not politically or religiously motivated.
“We should not blame it on Turkey or on the Turks,” the Pope told us as he came to the back of the plane at the start of the trip. “It’s clear that it’s not a political-religious assassination.”
Italian-born Bishop Luigi Padovese was stabbed to death early Thursday afternoon at his home in Iskenderun, Turkey, near the Syrian border. Shortly afterwards, authorities arrested his driver, and said the man had recently been suffering from depression and mental instability.
“We’re still waiting for a full explanation, but we don’t want to mix up this tragedy with Islam,” Benedict said. “It’s a separate case that saddens us but shouldn’t be allowed to cast a shadow over the dialogue.”
Another Italian priest, Father Andrea Santoro, was killed in Turkey in 2006, and the man arrested in that case was also described as mentally unstable.
Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim, and while the country hopes to join the European Union, critics point to a lack of religious freedom in the nation.
The timing of Padovese’s killing was significant, as the bishop was scheduled to travel to Cyprus for Pope Benedict’s visit this weekend.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded the country in 1974. The Turks currently holds nearly 40 percent of the island. Benedict will not visit the Turkish side of the island but will spend the night at the Vatican embassy, which sits right on the dividing line.
On his first day, Benedict was greeted warmly by both Catholics and Orthodox, but quickly saw how tense the situation on the small island is, as a Cypriot Orthodox bishop told him that Turkey was trying to take over the entire nation.
“It has turned the Orthodox Christians of Cyprus out of their ancestral homes, where they had lived for centuries,” said His Beatitude Chyrsostomos II at an outdoor ceremony in Paphos. “They want to make everything Greek and Christian disappear from occupied Cyprus.”
Let me think about this for a moment. According to the Church, the Pope, il papa himself - the One sanctified by God to carry His word, infallible ... said it was not something we can blame on Islam. So ends the story, if I believe in the infallibility of il papa - which I do, and I don't. Of the office and the man when seeking God's grace in truth and justice, but not when that man seeks a detente with Islam over truth.
Christendom loses when we ignore the tactics used by some who are a bit ... awkwardly and uncomfortably Muslim. What was the name of the man who shot Pope John Paul II? I can't recall. And neither can I recall where he was from. Of course, no connection.
Two Bishops and a Pope - two murdered and one seriously wounded, by three deranged Muslim males. Of course that is possible. So let us check England, France, the US, Germany, Russia - and see if we can find 3 Islamic religious figures murdered or seriously, and all 3 must occur in the same country. ??? A hint: the answer has fewer letters than the hoped for (by some) answer. NO. What about the flotilla brigade - the Turkish contingent onboard, singing death to Jews and a hoped for martyrdom. Are they also deranged? No says their Prime Minister, just the guy who killed the Bishop, and the Pope goes along with the charade.
If we are very quiet and pay attention we can hear the warnings.
Turkey
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