Prayers for Peace – a year after Baghdad Massacre

November 01, 2011: "The Church and the world cannot and must not forget. We must remember, yes, certainly, but also offer forgiveness and then implore peace for the living and the dead, "said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, in his homily during a Mass celebrated in Rome on October 30. It was to commemorate the first anniversary of the massacre which took place in the cathedral of "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" in Baghdad. Two priests and more than 40 worshipers were killed during evening Mass on Sunday, October 31, 2010.

Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, former Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern churches, Habib al-Sadr, Iraqi ambassador to the Holy See, and Iraqi priests, religious men and women, students in Rome participated in the liturgy.

Card. Sandri expressed his spiritual communion with the patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, Syrian Catholic and Maronite, and Chaldean, who were scheduled to concelebrate a mass in the cathedral in Bagdad to commemorate the victims with the bishop of Baghdad, Mgr. Jean Benjamin Sleiman.

Cardinal Sandri recalled the words of Benedict XVI delivered on November 1, 2010, the day after the massacre. The Pope had said that for the victims "of this absurd violence, even more ferocious in that it has been inflicted upon defenseless people gathered in God's house, which is a house of love and reconciliation. "
"That the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters can be a seed of peace and rebirth, and that those who care about reconciliation, fraternity, solidarity and coexistence find reason and strength to do good", the Cardinal added.