The murder of the Vatican’s representative in Turkey will not affect dialogue with Islam, Pope Benedict XVI said Friday as he travelled to Cyprus for a meeting with Middle Eastern bishops ahead of a synod at the Vatican later this year.
The pope said the death of Msgr Luigi Padovese, stabbed by his Turkish driver Thursday, “must not in any way overshadow the dialogue with Islam”.
“One thing is sure, it was not a political or religious assassination”.
The driver, 26-year-old Murat Altun, was being treated for psychiatric problems and reportedly told police he had a “Divine revelation” telling him to kill the bishop, according to Turkish media. Padovese, 63, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, was the second Catholic priest to be murdered in Turkey in recent years after Father Andrea Santoro in 2006.
“Naturally I am deeply pained by the death of Msgr Padovese, who also contributed a great deal to the preparation of the synod and would have been a precious element (in the talks in Cyprus),” said the pope, who earlier Friday received a message of condolence from Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
“But we do not want this tragedy to interfere with dialogue with Islam, which will be the theme of my trip”.
Referring to the synod in the Vatican on October 10-24, the pope voiced the hope it would boost both dialogue among Christians and “our common capacity for dialogue with Islam”.
Muslims “are our brothers, despite our differences,” he said.
Benedict has worked hard to mend relations with Islam since he upset Muslims around the world with comments he made in 2006, during a lecture in Regensburg, Germany.
Detractors interpreted his reference to a medieval emperor, who described Islam as a ‘violent’ religion, as an indication of his own views.
Since then, Benedict has stepped up efforts to make inter-religious dialogue a priority for his papacy.
In an effort to demonstrate his commitment to fostering goodwill among religions he re-established the Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 2007 after having merged it with the Council for Culture at the start of his pontificate.
In late 2008, the Holy See hosted a series of historic talks between prominent Muslim and Catholic scholars aimed at forging closer ties between the world’s two largest religions.
During his trip to the Holy Land in May 2009, the pope expressed his “profound respect for the Muslim community” and called on an “alliance of civilizations” to end religious violence and conflict.
The Vatican also signed a declaration with the Arab League in April 2009, agreeing to work for peace around the world, especially in the Middle East.
There are some two billion Christians worldwide, about half of whom are Catholics. Muslims number around 1.3 billion.
SYNOD WILL EXAMINE EXODUS OF CATHOLICS.
At the meeting with Middle Eastern bishops, Benedict will unveil a working document to lay the groundwork for the synod, which will address ways of stemming an exodus of Catholics from the Holy Land, Iraq and other countries.
During his three-day visit the pope will also have talks with Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II and meet the island’s small Catholic community.
The trip is the pope’s 16th since his election in 2005 and his third this year after Malta and Portugal.
Benedict will stay in the papal nuncio’s residence in Nicosia, on the Green Line that has separated the island since the Turkish north split from the Greek south in 1974.
A former British colony, Cyprus became an independent republic in 1960.
Following violence between ethnic Greek Cypriots and minority Turkish Cypriots, Turkey invaded in 1974, leading to the division of the island between the internationally recognised south and the north, which is only recognised by Turkey. The pope’s trip comes days after Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and the Turkish Cypriots’ new president, Dervis Eroglu, resumed peace talks after a two-month break.
The United Nations has been pressing the two sides to agree on reunification.