” ” ” ” "A Roman priest, a parish priest of this dioeces, father Andrea Santoro, who had been many years in Anatolia as a fidei donum (gift of faith), was treacherously murdered today in the church of Trabzon, which he regularly run and in which he was intent on praying". In giving the news of the murder of the sixty-year-old priest, cardinal vicar Camillo Ruini added: "All the diocese of Rome and especially the priests who loved and held in great esteem father Andrea, who had been the parish priest of the Roman churches of Jesus of Nazareth and then the church of Ss. Fabiano e Venanzio, deeply touched by this most sorrowful news, raise to the Lord deeply-felt prayers for him, for his old mother, for his sisters and for all his family. This dramatic event adds one more link to the long chain of Roman priests who have shed their blood for the Lord. Father Andrea had ardently wanted and persistently asked to leave Rome for Anatolia, to be, in that land, the silent and praying witness of Jesus Christ, respectful of the local laws. The diocese of Rome, although deeply grieving, is proud of him and thanks the Lord for this bright testimony, in the humble certainty that it will beget new Christian life". Father Santoro, according to the first investigations, was killed yesterday morning by gunshot as he was praying in the church of Trabzon. It seems he has killed by a young man. The funerals of the priest will be celebrated in Saint John Lateran on a date to be disclosed soon.
