In statements published on Il Tempo’s website on Sunday, Tajani said that the Italian Foreign Ministry “is following the situation with the Embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul” and added, “I am sure that Turkish authorities will arrest those responsible.”

“I express my deepest condolences and my firm condemnation of the cowardly attack on the Saint Mary Draperis church,” the minister wrote on his X account shortly after the attack.

Two armed men entered the Saint Mary Draperis Catholic Church in the Sariyer district of Istambul at 11:40 hours, local time.

An Italian order of Franciscan friars runs the church.

Pope Francis, in turn, also expressed his concern over those events in his words after the Angelus prayer in the Apostolic Palace before worshippers gathered at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square.

“I express my closeness to the community of Saint Mary Draperis church in Istanbul that suffered an armed attack during a mass that caused one dead,” the Pope said.

Istanbul Governor Davut Gül told reporters that “one of our 52-year-old citizens was killed.

The investigations by our police and prosecutors continue. No one was injured; only one person was attacked.

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