The body of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop kidnapped by gunmen last month was found in a shal- low grave in northern Iraq yesterday.
The discovery sparked an immediate response from Pope Benedict XVI. Speaking in Rome, he said the act offends the dignity of humankind.
Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was seized by gun- men on February 29, minutes after delivering a mass in Mosul, considered the last urban stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq.
“Holy New Martyrs of Iraq, pray for us, and pray that justice, peace, and freedom may prevail throughout the world, especially in your native land.”
http://vagantepriest.blogspot.com
Give rest, O Christ, to your servant with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.
Lord welcome your servant into your Kingdom and comfort his loved ones.
May he rest in peace and dwell in perpetual light. God have mercy on his killers.
May they receive justice.
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Tertullian
An Iraqi congregation meet for their Mass in my church each Sunday afternoon. This past Sunday they were weeping openly. They knew that the assault on the archbishop was also an assault on their whole community, with the hope, and the intention, that like the Sephardic Jews of Baghdad in 1948 they would be driven away – or convert to Islam. Saddam Hussein was a nasty piece of work. But the Christian communities were left in peace and relatively protected. It is sad, tragic even, that an intervention by the United States and the United Kingdom has had the effect of making it possible for terrorists to terrorise Christians and drive them from their homeland.
I find it interesting that I have heard very little about this in any media outlet (TV, online news, the several newspapers I read everyday). But if a Muslim cleric gets killed, its all over everything.
Just an observation…
Terry,
I know that under Sadaam there was “peace” for the Christian community in Iraq. But for Christians a peace that is the result of a tyrant who has turned his attention to others and is for now ignoring our community should not be regarded as peace at all. Peace that comes at the cost of hoping a murderous regime will keep murdering those guys and not us should be condemned.
I would hope that Christians have abandoned a view that judges events only by how such events effect them. I pray for Christians who face death and persecution. I also pray for true peace which unites communities in respect and compassion not one that divides them in fear.
http://vagantepriest.blogspot.com/2008/03/plight-of-assyrians-in-iraq.html