Zum Tod des entführten Erzbischofs Rahho im Irak
16. Mrz 2008
Die Botschaft von Pax Christi International im Original an den Kardinal von Babylon im Wortlaut:Message from Pax Christi International to
Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly
Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans
HE Archbishop Paulos (Boulos) Faraj Rahho
Requiescat in Pacem
It is with a sense of sadness that we learned about the death of HE Boulos Faraj Rahho, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, whose body was discovered on 13 March 2008 in a shallow grave near Mosul. The Archbishop, 65 years of age, was kidnapped on 29th February. HH Pope Benedict XVI described his death as "an act of inhuman violence."
The death of HE Boulos Faraj Rahho is a great tragedy and loss for all humanity, and an act of barbarian violence. We as peace movement strongly condemn such violent action. Pax Christi International mourns all the others who are being killed and maimed in Iraq.
Pax Christi International joins all those in Iraq and elsewhere who mourn for the Archbishop. His abduction and death represents the latest blow against a Christian community that is undergoing an ordeal by persecution and our prayers and thoughts are with Iraq's Christians, particularly in Mosul, as they struggle to live in faith.
Recently, different member organisations of Pax Christi International have expressed their solidarity in various ways:
A Pax Christi France delegation had travelled to Iraq on a solidarity visit to the Christian community from the 11th to the 19th of February 2008. The delegation, including the president Msgr. Marc Stenger, met with Bishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk and other religious leaders and Christian communities in Iraq.
Naglaa Elhag, the Senior Programme Officer on Iraq of IKV/Pax Christi in the Netherlands, met Archbishop Rahho during her last visit to the country in December 2007 and they had lengthy talks about the situation of Christians in Iraq. They also discussed a possible campaign regarding the situation of Christians there.
Suah Rassam, the author of Christianity in Iraq, is involved in a newly formed organisation called Iraqi Christians in Need. At the Pax Christi UK seminar held in London on the 12th of February 2008, Suah reflected upon the situation of the Christians in Iraq. Many of them left the country or are planning or forced to do so.
The Chaldean Christian community constitutes one of the largest Iraqi Christian communities, numbering roughly (with estimates varying) at 550,000 from an earlier strength of over 800,000. His death continues to increase the alarm of all Christian communities in Iraq and is a sad legacy of the unremitting chaos since 2003.
We pray together with the Christians in Iraq that this tragic event may serve to build a future of peace in the martyred land of Iraq. Peace through dialogue is the only way forward.
Brussels, 14 March 2008
Kontakt:
Paul Lansu, Pax Christi International
Rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains 21
B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Phone: +32 (0)2 502 55 50 fax: +32 (0)2 502 46 26