Roman Catholic death by stabbed in Turkey

A Roman Catholic bishop was stabbed to death in southern Turkey on Thursday.Luigi Padovese, 63, the apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was attacked outside his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. The killing was not believed to be politically motivated.Dogan news agency video footage of the scene showed the bishop lying dead in front of a building.He was scheduled to leave for Cyprus to meet with the pope, officials and reports said."The initial investigation shows that the incident is not politically motivated," Lekesiz said. "We have learned that the suspect had psychological problems and was receiving treatment."In 2007, a Roman Catholic priest in the western city of Izmir, Adriano Franchini, was stabbed and slightly wounded in the stomach by a 19-year-old man after Sunday Mass. The man was arrested."I have been deeply affected by the death of a colleague with whom I had been working together on projects for the region, Turkey and world peace,"Mustafa Sinanoglu said."These kinds of incidents are damaging our country's image," he added.Turkey's Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay paid tribute to Padovese saying he had "made important contributions to the culture of tolerance through his services in Hatay."The Foreign Ministry said the death of Padovese was an "important loss from a religious and scholarly point of view," adding that the Bishop had written extensively on Turkey
In a 2006 telephone interview with the AP, following another knife attack that injured another priest, Padovese expressed concern over the safety of Catholics priests in Turkey.
"The climate has changed," he said. "It is the Catholic priests that are being targeted."