A deadly militant siege of a Catholic church in Baghdad, Iraq, was a “savage” act of “absurd violence,” Pope Benedict XVI said.
The pope urged international and national authorities and all people of good will to work together to end the “heinous episodes of violence that continue to ravage the people of the Middle East.”
“In a very grave attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral of Baghdad, dozens of people were killed and injured, among them two priests and a group of faithful gathered for Sunday Mass”, the pope said of the Oct. 31 incident.
“I pray for the victims of this absurd violence, which is even more savage because it struck defenseless people, gathered in God’s house, which is a house of love and reconciliation,” he said after praying the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 1, the feast of All Saints.
A calm, objective report by the Catholic News Service that is actually understated in decrying the truly absurd violence involved in this heinous crime against humanity, as well as against all Christians.
I note that toward the end, a Catholic authority in Iraq is quoted as pointing out that roughly half of Iraq’s Roman Catholics (mostly the ancient Syrian or Chaldean rite) have fled the country in the last seven years. Probably even more would, if they could. It’s truly tragic to see the witness of the Christian Church eroding away so badly in its ancient homelands, with the Christian presence swiftly diminishing throughout most of the Mid East.
David Handy+