Adriano Franchini, 65, was stabbed in the stomach outside his church in the port city of Izmir after finishing mass on Sunday, December 16, police said. He was taken to a hospital but his wounds were described as not life-threatening.
Police said they detained a 19-year-old man suspected of attacking the priest. Two accomplishes were reportedly also captured, but officials refused to release more details or names of the suspects.
Turkish news reports suggested religious motives were behind the attack. Turkey’s Anatolia news agency said the assailant traveled to Izmir from his hometown of Balikesir, north of Izmir, seeking information on Christianity.
FURIOUS MAN
Franchini apparently invited the young man to observe Mass after which the two had a brief discussion about converting to Christianity. The man suddenly became furious and stabbed Franchini in the stomach, Anatolia reported.
He fled but was later captured, apparently along with the two other accomplices. Franchini was taken to hospital, but was no longer in critical condition, a colleague said. He has "undergone surgery and is now out of ranger, because the blade did not damage any vital organs but only intestinal tissue," said Bishop Luigi Padovese, the pope’s and apostolic vicar in Anatolia, in published remarks.
Padovese said the latest attack underscored mounting concerns about an increase of attacks against Christians in Turkey.
In February 2006, a 16-year-old boy fatally shot a Catholic priest as he knelt in prayer inside his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, at a time of widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
MORE ATTACKS
Following that killing, a Catholic priest was attacked and threatened in Izmir, and another was stabbed in the Black Sea port of Samsun. In November this year, an Assyrian cleric was abducted in southeast Turkey and rescued by security forces.
In April, three Christians were killed at a publishing house that produces Bibles. Last week, Turkey began an investigation into alleged collusion between police officers and at least one of the suspects charged in the killings. The three victims, a German and two Turks who had converted to Christianity, were tied up and had their throats slit. Bishop Padovese said in several statements that “a certain anti-Christian and xenophobic strain” can be observed in Turkey, but stressed "this does not mean we [Christians] will leave."
It was not immediately clear when Adriano Franchini would resume his activities. Franchini, from the northern Italian province of Modena had reportedly been working as a missionary priest in Turkey for over 27 years.
Christians comprise less than one percent of Turkey’s population of 70 million people, according to estimates.
