STATEMENT OF THE EASTERN CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES REGARDING THE KILLING OF ARCHBISHOP PAULOS RARAJ RAHHO OF MOSUL
We are the bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches in the United States of America, the “Eastern Catholic Associates.” We also, as a body, comprise Region XV of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. At our annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 2-3, 2008, we addressed the circumstances faced by the Chaldean Catholic Church in connection with the tragic abduction on February 29 and brutal death on March 13, 2008, of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul in Iraq.
First, we extend our condolences to His Beatitude, Emmanuel III Cardinal Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, together with his Holy Synod, at the loss of their esteemed colleague in the episcopal ministry in Iraq. At the same time, we express our profound shock and sympathies to our brother and sister Catholics who are members of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and throughout the world. In particular, as Americans, we share our sorrow and express our solidarity with the Chaldean Catholic community in the United States, represented by the Chaldean Catholic Dioceses of St. Thomas the Apostle in Detroit, Michigan, and St. Peter the Apostle in San Diego, California.
We are also shocked and saddened about the murder of Father Raghid Ganni of Mosul along with three subdeacons in June, 2007, as well as the killing of Archbishop Rahho’s driver and two companions at the time of his abduction, and the abduction and ransoming of ten Chaldean Catholic priests in Baghdad in 2006-2007. Continued abductions of the Chaldean people and other Christians, demands for protection money by terrorists, and conversions to Islam forced by threat of death, all point to the current state of extreme vulnerability of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq. We believe that it is no exaggeration to say that Christians are the most threatened minority in Iraq and face the very real possibility of extinction in their very homeland, where they have been in existence far longer than those who presently constitute the majority.
As Americans, we call upon our government to continue and expand its mission of protecting the fragile Christian community and other ethnic minorities in Iraq.
Finally, in fraternal communion with our fellow Christians in Iraq, we pray for the blessed repose of the soul of the departed Archbishop Rahho. May he find rest in the bosom of Abraham, and may his martyrdom be the source of new courage and a new devotion to peace and reconciliation on the part of Christians everywhere. We call upon our Eastern Catholic people in the United States to lift their voices in trustful prayer to the one God, who is the Lord of history and the protector of the defenseless, for the salvation and divine protection of all the Christians of Iraq.
We implore likewise the protection of Mary, the Most Holy Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon her devoted children in Iraq. Through her intercession, may the Chaldean Catholics and all Christians of Iraq receive new strength to withstand their current violent trial.