KIDAPAWAN CITY—Pope Benedict XVI issued a call to stop all forms of violence against Church leaders and followers as he and the Archdiocese of Milan said they were “distressed and shocked” at the death of Italian priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio.
Their messages were read on Tuesday morning during the Catholic Mass at the Our Lady of Mediatrix Cathedral for Fr. Tentorio, a member of the Rome-based Pontificio Instituto Missioni Estere (PIME) or the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Mission.
In the Pope’s message issued for him by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Vatican, Pope Benedict said he was “distressed to hear” of the killing of Tentorio and renewed his call to renounce the fresh attack on priests and other members of the religious.
Angelo Cardinal Scola of the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy, also said in a separate message he was “shocked to hear of this new violent incident” involving its member, Fr. Tentorio, who belonged to Milan’s jurisdiction.
Scola described the killing as “barbaric” for allegedly trying “to stop the humanitarian task” of Fr. Tentorio. The message was read for him by another Italian missionary in North Cotabato.
A more stinging remark was made by Italian Ambassador to the Philippines, Eugenio Bennato, who Kidapawan Bishop Romulo de la Cruz said “defied the Italian government’s travel advisory on Mindanao to be with us here.”
Bennato said his government was “indignant” over the “despicable action” against an Italian citizen. “What makes us indignant is the impunity of the perpetrator [in committing the crime].”
He said the Foreign Ministry of Italy has decided to retrieve the blog entries of Tentorio “in order to preserve his work.”
He said, though, he was pleased with the attendance “of thousands and thousands” of people, “many of them coming from far away places to come here.”
“It shows the indignation of all of us here,” he added.
His government said the Aquino administration already communicated its assurance to get the killers of Tentorio and added that the presence in the crowd of Secretary Corazon Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development “may show that [the President’s] statement is real.”
Eighty-eight priests and seven bishops concelebrated the Mass for Fr. Tentorio, whose assistant parish priest, Fr. Gianni Re of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Arakan, 53 kilometers north of here, said “would displease Fr. Tentorio who did not want to be the center of attraction.”
Lt. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Eastern Mindanao Command, and his staff attended the Mass and seated themselves at the front, beside Italian nationals and religious sisters.
At 11:30 a.m., Fr. Tentorio’s casket was brought out for a five-kilometer funeral march to the compound of the Bishop’s Residence near the grave of PIME Fr. Tullio Favali, who was slain on April 11, 1985, by a paramilitary unit in Tulunan, south of North Cotabato.
Tabaquero and his staff did not join the march, where a rosary was recited, led by Bishop de la Cruz, and punctuated by occasional angry chants of protest slogans from a crowd of mostly farmers and Manobos.
Several Church congregrations were seen with the crowd, as with members of the militant organizations.
Rep. Luz Ilagan and Teodoro Casiño were around, as well as former Rep. Satur Ocampo, who marched alongside Bishops de la Cruz and Romulo Valles of Zamboanga City.
Groups of women and girls were seen crying around the grave of Tentorio as caretakers poured soil over the lowered casket.
The mourners later held a rally at the national highway outside the Bishop’s Residence in Balindog, creating a logjam of buses, trucks and passenger vans.
