A martyr from Mosul

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul in Northern Iraq, the highest-ranking Chaldean Catholic clergyman, has been killed after being kidnapped. In all the violence in Iraq, the one thing that never entered the heads of those who perpetrated the so-called "War on Terror", was what would happen if the lid came off Saddam Hussein's political kettle. When the lid was blown off, it allowed all the mayhem that follows when a plan is only on the back of an envelop.

I doubt if the Bush administration ever bothered to ask if there were minorities in Iraq. Why, they're all Muslims, aren't they? So the Christians of Iraq fell into the category of easy prey. Five years on and going to church in Iraq is still a dangerous activity. The only thing that kept us in church today in Sparkbrook, Birmingham was a chill wind, so no Palm Sunday procession. Such a procession in Mosul or Baghdad would be a different activity. We are not persecuted. They are!

May the Archbishop rest in peace. His life was certainly more productive than mine, and led in far more hair-raising, sensitive and scary surroundings. We must not forget, we must forgive, and we should always be thankful for such people.

BBC News report.

Posted in: Archbishop Rahho,Chaldean Catholics,Iraq,Mosul