Catholic bishop stabbed to death in Turkey

Ankara, 04 June-(ANA) - A Roman Catholic bishop has been stabbed to death in southern Turkey, state-run media report.

Luigi Padovese, 63, was attacked in the garden of his summer house in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, according to Anatolia news agency.

Police have arrested Bishop Padovese's driver, a man identified only as Murat A. He was suffering from psychological problems, the provincial governor said.

There has been a series of attacks on Christians in Turkey in recent years.

Bishop Padovese, the Pope's apostolic vicar in Anatolia and an Italian national, died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

He had been due to leave for Cyprus on Friday to meet the Pope and other bishops in a meeting ahead of the church's synod on the Middle East in October.

The Vatican said it was "dismayed" by Bishop Padovese's death.(ANA)

FA/ANA/04 June 2010---------