Pope calls death of Iraqi archbishop 'act of inhuman violence'

Published: 2008-03-13

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI called the kidnapping and death of an Iraqi archbishop "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being and seriously harms the ... coexistence among the beloved Iraqi people." Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, 65, was kidnapped Feb. 29 in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead. The pope had made several public appeals for his release. Catholic leaders in Iraq said March 13 that they had recovered the archbishop's body after the kidnappers told them where they had buried him. In a March 13 telegram to Cardinal Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Pope Benedict said that after being informed of "the tragic death" of the archbishop, whom he called a "zealous pastor," he wanted to let Chaldean Catholics and all Christians in Iraq know that he is close to them.

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