On June 3, 2007, Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and three sub-deacons were martyred outside the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul, Iraq. Now, outside that very same church, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped on Friday, February 29, while the three men who were with him were brutally murdered.

Archbishop Rahho had just celebrated the Stations of the Cross shortly before his kidnapping. For Iraq's Chaldean Catholics, this popular Lenten devotion holds a particular significance this year. Despite an increased American troop presence in Iraq, the condition of Iraqi Christians has continued to deteriorate. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Christianity was not only tolerated but, in Christian areas, public schools offered Christian instruction. Today, only a few hundred thousand Christians remain in the country, and the rest face the daily threat of persecution and even death.

In his Angelus message on Sunday, March 2, Pope Benedict XVI appealed for the release of Archbishop Rahho, prayed for the souls of the three murdered men, and sent a strong message to the United States, saying, "May the efforts of those who control the fate of the Iraqi people be multiplied so that, thanks to the commitment and wisdom of all, this people may again find peace and security, and the future to which it has a right not be destroyed."

This is not the first time that the Holy Father has spoken out on the Iraq war. Even before he was elected pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger joined the previous pontiff, John Paul II, in opposing the war, which he regarded as incompatible with Christian just-war theory. And in both his message for Easter 2007 and in a meeting with President Bush at the Vatican in June 2007, Pope Benedict made it clear that "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees."

Related Posts and Articles:

• The Just War Theory of the Catholic Church
• What Have the Popes Said About the War in Iraq?
• Christian Persecution in Iraq Intensifies
• Priest and Three Deacons Martyred in Iraq
• Prophetic Words From Martyred Iraqi Priest
• Pope Benedict's Easter 2007 Message
• President Bush Meets With Pope Benedict