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IRAQ: ATTACK ON CHURCH, CASMOUSSA (MOSUL), “A HUMAN CATASTROPHE, LET THE UN INTERVENE”
- Dettagli
- Creato: 03 Novembre 2010
- Hits: 1545
“A genuine catastrophe, both human and religious. We feel totally unprotected, the UN must come into play: it is essential by now, to protect this small community!”. This was said by mgr. Basile Georges Casmoussa, Syro-Catholic archbishop of Mosul, to the microphones of the Vatican Radio, as he spoke of last Sunday’s terrorist attack against the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad, where 58 people died, including eight children, ten women and two priests. And today mgr. Casmoussa, along with the Syro-Catholic metropolitan archbishop of Baghdad, mgr. Athanase Mati Shaba Matoka, officiated the funerals of the two priests, denouncing on several occasions the lack of appropriate protection by the Iraqi authorities. “For our Christian community, it is a genuine catastrophe, both human and religious! – the prelate said – This will cause panic. We keep offering a helping hand for dialogue, to join forces, to forget the past, to overcome all our pains … But then, when we see that, especially the authorities, give no adequate response, we feel totally unprotected. Then, the UN must come into play: it is essential by now, to protect this small community”.
According to mgr. Casmoussa, if the authorities “did all they could, they should first and foremost implement a peacekeeping policy; then, they must change the rules, so that Christians are entitled to have the same rights as the other citizens”. But above all “a government of national unity must be appointed. The authorities must make the Christian churches and communities safe, through laws and through the police, so that Christians may trust their country and their future again. Nice words and nice speeches are not enough”. The Chaldean Procurator to the Holy See, mgr. Philip Najim, also spoke of a “barbaric attack against humanity, against the Church, against religion, against human dignity”. An attack firmly condemned by all the Iraqi community: “yesterday, I heard that lots of Muslims went to donate blood for the victims in the church. The extremists have been condemned by the Muslims themselves: by that Islam which knows God, which knows faith, which knows love, which knows charity”.
© SIR - november 2th 2010
According to mgr. Casmoussa, if the authorities “did all they could, they should first and foremost implement a peacekeeping policy; then, they must change the rules, so that Christians are entitled to have the same rights as the other citizens”. But above all “a government of national unity must be appointed. The authorities must make the Christian churches and communities safe, through laws and through the police, so that Christians may trust their country and their future again. Nice words and nice speeches are not enough”. The Chaldean Procurator to the Holy See, mgr. Philip Najim, also spoke of a “barbaric attack against humanity, against the Church, against religion, against human dignity”. An attack firmly condemned by all the Iraqi community: “yesterday, I heard that lots of Muslims went to donate blood for the victims in the church. The extremists have been condemned by the Muslims themselves: by that Islam which knows God, which knows faith, which knows love, which knows charity”.
© SIR - november 2th 2010