Rome Synod expresses solidarity with Iraq’s suffering Christians

(October 10, 2008) Bishops from around the world participating in the ongoing synod in Rome have expressed their solidarity and spiritual closeness with the suffering Christains of Iraq with growing anti-Christian violence in Mosul. Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the secretary general of the synod of bishops expressed the sentiments of the synod to Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad, the Patriarch of the Chaldean rite Catholic Church of Iraq, during Thursday’s general session. The entire synod assembly, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI, greeted Archbishop Eterovic’s words of solidarity with a hearty applause. The issue of anti-Christian violence was raised at the end of the free discussions during Thursday’s general session.
In the latest violence in Iraq a 38-year old Chaldean Catholic was shot dead on Thursday in front of his home in the neighbourhood of Noor in Mosul, the same area where Fr. Ragheed Gani and three deacons were killed in 2007, and where Archbishop Paulo Farj Rahho of Mosul was kidnapped and later was found dead. Men are driving around the city shouting slogans against the Christians, threatening more slaughter and violence. This is the second time that the issue of anti-Christian violence has been raised during the synod meetings, after Indian cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the head of the Syro-Malabar rite Catholic Church on Monday drew the attention of the synod fathers to the ongoing violence against Christians in India, particularly in the eastern state of Orissa. Also on Thursday the synod elected 12 members to the commission that will draw up the final message of the synod. Indian Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati was elected from the Asian region.