In Turkey “there’s no escalation of violence: that dramatic gesture, I think, will remain a sporadic example, and perhaps it has to do with some other reason instead of religious hatred”. This is the opinion of father Claudio Monge of the Dominican Friars of Istanbul, about father Andrea Santoro’s murder. “We knew father Andrea and appreciated his pastoral work said father Monge to the agency Fides -, but we wish to say that at present we have no particular reason to say that in the country things are changing in terms of relations between Islamic and Christian people”. The Dominican friar is worried instead by "the interpretation given by the Western mass-media, which in most cases speak in terms of violence and opposition”. “We must try – concludes father Monge to stay away from ideological interpretations, which are very dangerous for the public opinion”. In the meantime, father Andrea’s body arrived in Rome this morning on board a C130, and was blessed by card. Camillo Ruini. Tomorrow morning, the mortuary chapel will be set up in the Roman church of Ss. Fabiano e Venanzio, where the priest used to work before he left for Turkey, while the solemn funeral service will be celebrated by cardinal Ruini himself, in the basilica of Saint John Lateran on Friday 10th February at 10 am. The Turkish Church too will pay tribute to father Andrea: on 9th February, at the end of the Bishops Assembly, mgr. Antonio Lucibello, apostolic nuncio to Ankara, will celebrate Mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Istanbul to commemorate the priest, in the presence of Muslim leaders and delegates of the religious communities of the country.
