Vatican City, Feb 5, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Earlier today, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his personal condolences for the assassination of a Roman missionary priest, killed in Turkey Sunday shortly after celebrating Mass.
The Pope sent a telegram of personal condolences to Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar General for the diocese of Rome, spiritual home of Father Andrea Santoro, a missionary fidei donum priest working in Trabzon, Turkey.
The Pope said that "While I hope that his blood shed may be a seed of hope for the building of authentic fraternity among people, I raise fervent prayers for the brave witness to the Gospel of love, and I impart with all my heart the consoling apostolic blessing on his family, in particular, the elderly mother so saddened, and others who mourn his violent death."
The Holy Father sent a separate telegram to Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia (Turkey), in which he praised the priest’s generosity and apostolic dedication to his ministry.