Turkey’s top Roman Catholic bishop on Thursday publicly accused ultra-nationalists and religious fanatics of being behind the slaying of the country’s senior bishop.

Monsignor Luigi Padovese was stabbed to death outside his home in İskenderun by his driver June 3, a day before he was to leave for Greek Cyprus to meet Pope Benedict XVI.

Turkish officials have insisted the slaying was personal and not religious or politically motivated, and the driver’s lawyer has said he had mental problems.

But the head of Turkey’s bishops’ conference, Monsignor Ruggero Francheschini, told a Vatican meeting Thursday that Padovese was the victim of “premeditated murder” that was part of a “dark plot of complicity between ultra-nationalists and religious fanatics.
http://www.turkishweekly.net