What is it with priest knife attacks?
A Rome priest is fighting for his life after being stabbed in the neck and stomach by a deranged man who had just watched the film The Da Vinci Code on television.
Eyewitnesses said that Marco Luzi, 25, asked to see Father Canio Canistri, 68, parish priest at the church of Santa Marcella in the San Saba district on the Aventine Hill, and then attacked him with a knife hidden in a cloth. An elderly parishioner who came to the priest's aid is also in serious condition.
A Peruvian childminder and a policeman were also injured as the assailant fled through a nearby park. Police said Mr Luzi, a former medical student with a history of psychiatric problems, had admitted watching the film version of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code on television the night before the frenzied assault.
At his flat nearby, where he lived with his mother Paola, investigators found material on the Apocalypse and the anti-Christ, and the telephone number of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
There was also a large reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which is at the heart of the mystery in The Da Vinci Code, with a note pointing to one of the disciples reading: "This is the hand in which a knife is hidden".
and
AN elderly Sydney priest who disarmed an intruder says he thought it was either "me or him" when he confronted the man in the church presbytery.
Father John Mello, 72, was stabbed in the arm while taking a knife from a robber less than half his age at St Kevin's Catholic Church at Dee Why, on Sydney's northern beaches.
The priest was having dinner and reading the paper about 7.20pm (AEST) yesterday when he heard something and disturbed the intruder, aged between 25-30.
Fr Mello said when he confronted the man, wearing a balaclava and armed with a knife about 25 to 30cm long, he was "vividly conscious" he could be "horizontal in one second", and acted automatically to disarm his attacker.
Known as 
Attacks against the Church all over the world...glad I'm a 300lbs friar...too bad I don't a handgun permit.
Fr. Philip, OP
It is interesting that pundits thought that the Passion of the Christ would lead to vast pogroms against Jews. Of course nothing of the sort occurred.
Yet nothing was said by these same pundits by the anti-Catholic Da Vinci Code, and it has actually caused a real attack on a Catholic priest.
Fr. Philip, get a permit and buy a gun. There is no canon law that says, priest cannot use firearm to defend himself. I am waiting for 2 more years before I can get a permit and buy a gun (a U.S. permanent resident cannot buy a gun)
What about the vow of non violence or do priest's not take that?
Matthew,
No such thing as a vow of non violence.
Parish priests make solemn promises of chaste celibacy for the love of God and of obedience to their Bishop. They are also bound, by their state in life, to live simply and frugally, but they have no vow of poverty. Religious order priests make vows to God of poverty, chastity and obedience.
One of the reasons, I have read, that Bishop Odo is wielding a club (instead of a broadsword) at the Battle of Hastings in the famous Bayeux Tapestry was because there is a rule against clergy using weapons. Apparently Bishop Odo thought a club didn't count...
What about the vow of non violence or do priest's not take that?
Christ Himself was not a pacifist (remember the money-changers in the temple?); why would we expect priests to be?
The Church has always recognized the right of the individual to defend himself against an unjust aggressor - even to the point of taking the life of the aggressor if it is the only way to preserve one's safety and life.
There is no vow of non-violence in the priesthood. I know at least two gun-totin' Padres, and I have a gut feeling my priests would not look too kindly on someone threatening them or their parishioners with bodily harm.
In certain times and places, there have been rules that priests and religious could not "take up the sword". Often, this was a trade-off. The local law put heavier penalties on offenders who attacked religious or priests, since they not only provided uncommon services to the community, but had to spend more time getting educated. Therefore, it wouldn't be fair if Layman Otto couldn't take a whack at Fr. Addi without losing his livelihood or life, whilst Fr. Addi could kill Layman Otto without Otto daring to raise a hand against him. In this country, one also thinks of military chaplain priests, who do not fight themselves but also receive a certain amount of leeway during battle that's not granted to those who fight. (They have chaplains' assistants who do carry rifles, though.)
In other times and places, it was felt that a priest should be free of blood on his hands, even from before his priesthood and conversion; or that priests should only be men of peace.
But in still other times and places, priests and religious have either led troops while unarmed, or actually taken up arms and armies themselves. Obviously the Medici popes are not the example one wishes to cite in this connection, so one might point instead to the gentle pope who, while a priest-librarian in Milan, bought a pistol to defend his books and co-workers.
My dad and my younger brothter are both avid hunters, so I grew up around guns from Day One. My dad was a game warden for years, teaching hunter safety to high schoolers. I learned to fire a pistol, but didn't practice much...too many good books to read! The basic rule where I'm from is this: if you enter someone else's house uninvited, you have given the owners of that house permission to use you for target practice. I've shocked my gentler European brothers by admitting that I would shoot someone breaking into my house. I wouldn't be happy about it or boast or in any way think that it was a good thing that I had to shoot someone...but if you come into my house or attack me or my family, you had better be ready to get popped. Simple as that. As they say, you can take the boy outta Mississippi...
And I thought "Da Vinci Code" was "just fiction"!
As you all know, most priest live alone in the parish rectory. Criminals knows that it is an easy target, Most priest would open the rectory door if someone is asking for help. What if the criminal pretend to be asking help and suddenly assault the priest? I know 2 priests who were dead because of home invasion robbery and they were not prepared to defend themselves. With shortage of priests going on, I think the bishops could not afford to lose priests because of such a crime. At present I am using a stun gun. I advocate to use firearm to defend my brother priests. (I always go to target practice)
He has a history of psychiatric problems. That makes it understandable, then. They'd better lock him up.
Ecclesia non sitit sanguinem.
(old canonistical adage)
That's why priests never used to bear arms.
The world outside the church, however, follows no such precepts. Maybe because of that Christ sent his disciples like sheep among the wolves ... homo homini lupus. I am not against priests going to hunt (the CIC 1917, however, had another point of view) nor against army chaplains. There is a tradition that in the Austro-italian war of 1866, the chaplain of a Lancers' Regiment joined the soldiers when they mounted an attack against the Italian soldiers. Note that he rode with them, but did not fight with them. Oh well, maybe it is because I am not living in the US of A that I find the idea of carrying firearms in daily live a bit strange.
I have a 20 gauge and and a 22. Mostly for hunting small game (like I ever get a chance), many priests I know in my diocese are armed. My best friend in the priesthood owns several shotguns & rifles for hunting and 2 handguns for protection. We never ever want to have to make that choice to shoot a human being, but neither of us are prone to just rolling over if either of is attacked. There is not that many of us left.
"Matthew,
No such thing as a vow of non violence.
Parish priests make solemn promises of chaste celibacy for the love of God and of obedience to their Bishop. They are also bound, by their state in life, to live simply and frugally, but they have no vow of poverty. Religious order priests make vows to God of poverty, chastity and obedience."
Learn something new every day.
Thank you sir for the lesson :)
Hermann, do the police in your country not carry firearms? I am curious, not being facetious.
In my state (and others), one must have a special permit to carry a concealed weapon. The only people I know who carry firearms in their daily routine (besides police, security and military personnel) are workers who regularly carry a large amount of cash between businesses and banks(such as a payroll deposits). Other than that, most gunowners keep their guns at home unless they're hunting (with limited permits) or going to the firing range.
Personally, I have never owned a gun. However, one of my roommates defended us from a man who chased me and forced his way into our home. She used a hunting knife. After that experience, I decided a gun would have been preferable since it's a greater deterrent (and less messy).
Personally, I have never owned a gun. However, one of my roommates defended us from a man who chased me and forced his way into our home. She used a hunting knife. After that experience, I decided a gun would have been preferable since it's a greater deterrent (and less messy).
Also safer. You don't have to get within arm's length of an attacker with a firearm. Especially for women.