Pope decries ferocious attack on Iraq’s Christian community
Pope Benedict XVI has condemned a ferocious attack on the Christian community of Iraq
in which over 50 people were killed and dozens injured. In an appeal launched at the
end of the Angelus prayer for the Feast of All Saints, the Holy Father once again
renewed his call for an end to violence which is tearing the Middle East apart.
Rain
lashed St Peter’s square Monday, as Pope Benedict XVI waited for the crowds gathered
beneath the windows of his apartments to quieten. Then, speaking in Italian he began
“ Last night, in a very serious attack on the Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad,
dozens of people were killed and wounded, including two priests and a group of faithful
gathered for Sunday Mass”.
He was speaking of the siege of Catholics in Our
Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad by a group of Al Qaeda militants. A siege that
tragically ended in a massacre when Iraqi security forces raided the place of worship
to free the faithful being held inside.
The Pope continued “I pray for the
victims of this senseless violence, all the more ferocious as it affected defenceless
civilians", the Holy Father expressed his closeness to the martyred Christian community,
targeted yet again by terrorists, and encouraged all pastors and faithful "to be strong
and firm in hope”.
This latest attack comes less than a week from the closing
of the special assembly of the Synod of bishops for the Churches in the Middle East,
specifically called by Pope Benedict XVI to encourage the communities of the region.
“Faced
with the brutal violence that continues to tear the peoples of the Middle East apart”,
he concluded “I renew my appeal for peace: it is God's gift, but it is also the result
of the efforts of men of good will, national and international institutions. We must
all join forces to ensure an end to all violence!”. Emer McCarthy reports: