” “"Father Andrea was certainly not an incompetent or gullible person: he had studied a lot and was familiar with the culture and the environment in which he had decided to live, he knew such an extreme gesture as the one that cut him short could not be ruled out. He deeply loved God and loved as deeply all the brothers the Lord had put on his way". With these words, now relayed by the agency Fides, card. Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of the Peoples, recalled the Roman priest murdered in Turkey on February 5th whose "life plan" was the line from the Bible: "If the seed of wheat that falls to the ground does not die, it will remain alone; while if it dies, it will bear plenty of fruit". "Father Andrea left for Turkey, not to make proselytes, to oppose to the reality in which he lived, to change society by force added the cardinal : he was a missionary with his simple presence, praying and attentive to the material and spiritual poverty that surrounded him, all engrossed in the love of God and of the people around him". And he concluded: "The possibility to sacrifice one’s life to the cause of the Gospel is part of every missionary’s baggage. Violent death is not a setback, but the ultimate, the highest and the total offering of one’s life that the missionary places in the hands of the Lord consciously and with love, knowing that the love he will shed will not be sterile but will turn into nourishment and lifeblood for the local community and the whole Church".” “
