A Roman priest was stabbed in the stomach by an apocalyptic whack job who had just watched the Da Vinci Code movie. Some stories are just too bizarre to make up. According to the Times Online,
The report says that Mr. Luzi is a former medical student with a history of psychiatric problems. And is, apparently, a harsh movie critic.
Father Canistri remains in intensive care, and Antonio Farrace, a 78 year old retired policeman who attempted to stop the attacker, is in serious condition.
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....
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".
Police also found a box on which was written "In here are the keys to the Sixth and Seventh Seals, closed by order of Satan and Jesus Christ. Give all these things to the Pope."
A rambling note read: "Between my death and my return many grave events will take place, years will pass, perhaps centuries. Christianity will be reviewed in the light of the new alliance between Jesus and the Madonna". Other notes referred to Islam, Satanism and robots.
The report says that Mr. Luzi is a former medical student with a history of psychiatric problems. And is, apparently, a harsh movie critic.
Father Canistri remains in intensive care, and Antonio Farrace, a 78 year old retired policeman who attempted to stop the attacker, is in serious condition.