Blessed Are the Meek: The Life and Martyrdom of a Priest on Mission in Turkey

Fr. Andrea wanted to live in the Middle East “as Jesus lived there, with the humble gift of his life.” They killed him, crying out “Allah is great,” while he prayed
by Sandro Magister

ROMA, February 7, 2006 – He had knelt down to pray shortly before celebrating the Mass in the little Catholic Church of Trabzon, in the north of Turkey, on the Black Sea, when a young man shot him in the back twice with a pistol, crying out “Allah is great.”

This is how Fr. Andrea Santoro, 60, of the diocese of Rome, a missionary in Turkey, was killed on Sunday, February 5.