Luigi Padovese was born on March 31, 1947 at Milan. In 1965, Luigi entered the Capuchin Order. Ordained priest in 1973, Luigi received the doctorate in Patristic theology at the Augustinianum in Rome (1980) — becoming one of the leading Italian Patristics scholars of the late 20th century.
In 2004, Luigi was consecrated Bishop and Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia — succeeding Bishop Ruggero Franceschini in the tiny Turkish Anatolian Catholic community.
Luigi undertook the systematic Christian-Muslim dialogue in Turkey and the systematic scholarship on the early Christian communities of Asia Minor.
On June 3, 2010 — the day before Bishop Padovese was scheduled to accompany Pope Benedict XVI on the papal pilgrimage to Cyprus — Luigi was stabbed to death by his personal driver Murat Altun at the İskenderun bishop's residence.
Altun famously shouted: 'I have killed the great Satan! Allahu Akbar!' — the 21st-century Islamist-motivated attack on the Catholic bishop.
The cause of beatification was opened in 2012.