Turin, Italy, Aug 29, 2008 / 09:46 am
On Wednesday hooded attackers assaulted Franciscan monks at a monastery in the Alps foothills near Turin, leaving one priest severely injured and the three other victims hospitalized. The Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Severino Poletto, called the attack “beyond comprehension” and only explicable if the attackers had been “either drugged or possessed, or both.”
The 48-year-old Father Sergio Baldin, the guardian of the San Colombano Belmonte monastery and three elderly monks from the Franciscan order of Friars Minor were having their evening meal when they were attacked, the Times Online reports.
Three hooded men gagged and bound the monks before punching, kicking, and beating them with clubs.
Father Baldin suffered severe head injuries and “serious respiratory problems” because he choked on his food during the assault. He has had brain surgery and was in a coma.