Nun killed after Pope’s speech

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, September 17, 2006

MOGADISHU, Somalia – An elderly Italian nun who devoted her life to helping the sick in Africa was shot dead by two gunmen at a hospital Sunday in an attack possibly linked to worldwide Muslim anger toward Pope Benedict XVI and his recent comments on Islam.

Sister Leonella, 65, was shot in the back four times by pistol-wielding attackers as she left the Austrian-run S.O.S. hospital. Her bodyguard was also slain.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which came just hours after a leading Somali cleric condemned the pope’s remarks last week on Islam and violence.

The head of security for the Islamic militia that controls much of southern Somalia, Yusuf Mohamed Siad, said one man had been arrested and the second was being hunted. He said the killing might have stemmed from the uproar over the pope but stressed he didn’t know for sure.

“They could be people annoyed by the pope’s speech, which angered all Muslims in the world, or they could have been having something to do with S.O.S.,” he said. “We will have to clarify this through our investigation.”

An Islamic militia seized control of Mogadishu in recent months. After the pope’s comments last week – which included quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor that called some of Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as “evil and inhuman” – Somali Islamic extremists had threatened to attack Catholics.

Sister Leonella, whose birth name was Rosa Sgorbati, had lived and worked in Kenya and Somalia for 38 years, her family said.

In his first public appearance since igniting a firestorm in the Islamic world, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday said he was “deeply sorry” that Muslims were offended and outraged by his use of a Medieval citation critical of their faith, saying it did not “in any way express my personal thought.”

The pope was addressing the issue during his weekly Angelus blessing, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

“I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims,” he said, adding that the quote from Emperor Manuel II Paleologus did not reflect his own opinion.

The pope on Tuesday had quoted the emperor as saying: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Benedict noted that on Saturday, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the No. 2 official in the Vatican, had offered a written clarification of the meaning of the pope’s speech. The statement also relayed the pope’s “deep regrets.”

“I hope that this serves to appease hearts,” Benedict said, “and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.”