Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Vatican Response to Murder of Priest



A Roman Catholic priest, Andrea Santaro, was shot dead in his church in Turkey on February 6, 2006, by a Muslim teenager who said it was because of the 'Danish Mohammed cartoons'. Father Santaro was shot in the chest following Sunday mass, at the 19th Century Santa Maria Church.

Michelle Malkin reports the news on this:

Turkish security forces arrested a high school student on Tuesday over the killing of an Italian Catholic priest and Turkish television said the teenager had confessed to a crime which has shocked this Muslim nation.

The student told police he was influenced by cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, NTV commercial television said. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

The state Anatolian news agency said the student, aged 16, had been carrying a 9 mm pistol when he was captured in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where Andrea Santoro, 61, was gunned down on Sunday while praying.

...Turkey, with a population of 72 million, is overwhelmingly Muslim and its tiny Christian population is barely 60,000. Turkey has seen street protests against the cartoons, but they have been peaceful, in contrast to some Muslim countries...

I interviewed Philip Lawler of Catholic World News today on the Vatican's response to both this killing and the Danish/European publishing of the 12 cartoons of Mohammed. It will air on Monday, February 13th.

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