Pope expresses grief after Iraqi bombing kills four soldiers

Published: 2006-04-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI expressed his grief after an April 27 roadside bombing in southern Iraq that killed four soldiers: three Italians and one Romanian. In a telegram, the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, said the pope wished to relay his "firm reproach" for the fresh violence. On April 27 the Vatican released a copy of the telegram sent to the head of Italy's military archdiocese, Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco. The four coalition soldiers died after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the city of Nasiriyah, where Italian troops are based. A fourth Italian was reported to be seriously injured in the same attack. The telegram lamented the death of soldiers who were "generously carrying out (a) mission of peace." The latest violence only further hindered "the path to harmony and the recovery of that tormented nation," the written message said.

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