Media ignores assault on monks, reports prostitution charges against church

"The fact that a boy armed with a long knife had threatened two monks, and youth rehearsing for a Passion play, was ignored. The boy also broke a door and stole a cell phone. He was arrested and later released by police."

“Some newspapers said ‘the boy entered the Catholic Church, accusing the church of prostituting boys with girls coming to the church’, as if this was the main news”, thus leaving the attack aside."

What really happened was that “on 11 March, at around 7pm, while we were holding a rehearsal for the play of the Passion of Christ in the convent of the parish, a youth, of around 22 years, came in and mixed with the youth of the parish, and then elbowed his way into the convent. There were around 25 teenagers there, aged between 15 and 19 years. One of the boys called me, telling me there was a stranger creating problems, who wanted to talk to a priest. I went out of the room and started to talk to him; seeing that he was saying disjointed things and threats, I asked him to go outside. He refused and only threatened all the more, swearing. All this was happening in the corridor of the convent, where by now, the teenagers had gathered around. At this point, I decided to call the police. The telephone is in a booth in the corridor. I picked up the receiver and dialed the number of the police. All of a sudden, I saw the young people scatter and this youth came to the telephone booth with a sort of scimitar (a knife around 80 or 90cam long, used to cut Turkish doner kebabs) – it had been hidden behind his back – which he started to threaten me with.”

“I put the phone down and tried to calm him. Anyhow, if he wanted to, he could have harmed me; I was able to come out from the booth. In the meantime, Fr Robert too had come into the corridor. This time, the boy turned on Fr Robert and threatened him, clutching the knife. I managed to sneak out and to go to the police station near the church. Even Fr Robert tried to keep the youth calm. Then the boy turned towards the hall where the young people had rushed to. He broke the glass of the door with the long knife, opened the door and started to rummage in the jackets of the teenagers, taking a cell phone with him. The teenagers had left the hall and had locked themselves about the place, in rooms and bathrooms. The boy continued to shout and threaten. Within five minutes I was back in the convent with three or four policemen. They crossed the boy on the stairs of the convent. He threatened them too and they tried to talk to him to calm him down. In the meantime, journalists and a dozen police reached the scene. There was some 15 minutes talk and finally the boy surrendered to the police.”

"in Turkey, there are elements seeking to instill in people’s minds the idea that the Church is “converting” Turks and posing a threat. Thus, less than month after the killing of Fr Andrea Santoro, on 28 February, the national daily Vatan, reported that Fr Andrea used to distribute dollars to draw youth to church. And other national news media continue to talk about missionaries and their proselytism, about the distribution of money and making other inferences, without ever revealing the identity of interested parties. Some say this approach hides the political struggle of religious fundamentalism against the current Turkish government and its resolve to take Turkey into Europe."
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