ANGELUS TODAY:
Pope decries ferocious attack
on Iraq’s Christian community
1 NOV 2010 (RV) -Pope Benedict XVI has condemned a ferocious attack on the Christian community of Iraq in which over 50 people were killed and dozens injured.
In an appeal launched at the end of the Angelus prayer for the Feast of All Saints, the Holy Father once again renewed his call for an end to violence which is tearing the Middle East apart.
Rain lashed St Peter’s square Monday, as Pope Benedict XVI waited for the crowds gathered beneath the windows of his apartments to quieten. Then, speaking in Italian he began, “Last night, in a very serious attack on the Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad, dozens of people were killed and wounded, including two priests and a group of faithful gathered for Sunday Mass”.
He was speaking of the siege of Catholics in Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad by a group of Al Qaeda militants. A siege that tragically ended in a massacre when Iraqi security forces raided the place of worship to free the faithful being held inside.
The Pope continued: “I pray for the victims of this senseless violence, all the more ferocious as it affected defenceless civilians".
The Holy Father expressed his closeness to the martyred Christian community, targeted yet again by terrorists, and encouraged all pastors and faithful "to be strong and firm in hope”.
This latest attack comes less than a week from the closing of the special assembly of the Synod of bishops for the Churches in the Middle East, specifically called by Pope Benedict XVI to encourage the communities of the region.
“Faced with the brutal violence that continues to tear the peoples of the Middle East apart”, he concluded, “I renew my appeal for peace: it is God's gift, but it is also the result of the efforts of men of good will, national and international institutions. We must all join forces to ensure an end to all violence!”.
Here is a translation of the Pope's words today:
The Solemnity of All Saints which we celebrate today invites us to raise our eyes to heaven and to meditate on the fullness of the divine life that awaits us.
"We are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed" (1 Jn 3,2). With these words the Apostle John assures us of the reality of our profound bond with God, as well as the certainty of our future destiny.
As beloved chlidren, therefore, we also receive the grace to bear the trials of this earthly existence - the hunger and thirst for justice, incomprehensions, persecutions (cfr Mt 5,3-11). Meanwhile, we shall inherit what was promised to us in the evangelical beatitudes, "in which will shine the new image of the world and man that Jesus inaugurated" (Benedict XVI, JESUS OF NAXZARETH, p. 95).
Holiness - imprinting Christ on ourselves - is the purpose of Christian living. Blessed Antonio Rosmini wrote: "The Lord impressed himself on the souls of his disciples with his sensible behavior - and with his words: He gave them that grace with which the soul immediately perceives the Word" (Antropologia soprannaturale, Roma 1983, 265-266).
We have a foretaste of the gift and the beauty of holiness every time we take part in the Eucharistic liturgy, in communion with the 'immense multitude' of blessed spirits who in heaven eternally acclaim the salvation by God and by the Lamb (cfr Ap 7,9-10).
"The lives of the saints are not limited to their earthly biographies but also include their being and working in God after death. In the saints, one thing becomes clear: those who draw near to God do not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them" (Enc. Deus caritas est, 42).
Comforted by this communion with the great family of saints, tomorrow we commemorate all the faithful departed. The liturgy of November 2 and the pious practice of visiting the cemeteries remind us that Christian death is part of the path of assimilation with God, which will vanish when God is everything in everyone.
Separation of earthly affections is certainly painful, but we should not fear it, because ,accompanied by the prayers of the Church, it cannot break the profound bond that unites us in Christ.
In this connection, St. Gregory of Nyssa said: "He who created everything in wisdom, gave us this sorrowful disposition as an instrument of liberation from evil and of the possibility to participate in the rewards that we hope for" (De mortuis oratio, IX, 1, Leiden 1967, 68).
Dear friends, eternity is not "an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like the supreme moment of fulfillment, when totality embraces us and we embrace totality" (Enc. Spe salvi, 12) - of being, of truth, of love.
To the Virgin Mary, a sure guide to holiness, let us entrust our pilgrimage towards the celestial homeland, as we invoke her maternal intercession for the eternal repose of all our brothers and sisters who are asleep in the hope of resurrection.
After the prayers, he said:
Last night, a most serious attack on the Syro-Catholic Church of Baghdad, resulted in dozens of dead and wounded, among them, two priests and a group of faithful who had gathered for Holy Mass.
I pray for the victims of this absurd violence, the more ferocious because it struck at helpless persons gathered in the house of God, which is a house of love and reconciliation.
I aslo express my affectionate closeness to the Christian community which has been struck anew, and I encourage the pastors and the faithful to be strong and firm in hope.
In the face of these savage episodes of violence, which continue to rip through the peoples of the Middle East, I wish to renew my desperate appeal for peace: It is a gift of God, but it is also the result of efforts by men of good will, of national and international institutions. May all unite their efforts so that all violence may come to an end!
Baghdad church siege
ends in massacre
1 NOV 2010 (RV) - “Nowhere is safe anymore, not even the House of God”, says auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, Shlemon Warduni, the day after an unprecedented attack on the Christian community of the Iraqi capital.
Together with Patriarch Delly he visited survivors and wounded of the Sunday massacre, in which over 50 hostages and police officers were killed when security forces raided a Baghdad church to free more than 100 Iraqi Catholics held hostage by al Qaeda-linked gunmen. Between 70 and 80 people were seriously wounded, many of them women and children.
The terrorists, some wearing suicide vests, had taken over 120 faithful hostage at the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation, one of Baghdad's largest, during Sunday Mass and demanded the release of Al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt.
“This tragedy represents a new and terrifying change in strategy by terrorists,” said an anonymous source from the Catholic community in Baghdad, “It means all Christian parishes in Iraq are in danger”.
An Iraqi affiliate of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. It said in a statement posted on radical Islamic websites that it was an action against the Coptic church in Egypt.
Archbishop Georges Casmoussa, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul. notes “What we are asking for - and we repeat this appeal - is that our government and the international community push to bring peace to Iraq and push for the formation of a responsible government, so there is some authority over the situation here in Iraq”.
Church leaders have long warned that the political vacuum created by the failure to agree on a government formation following March elections has left the door open to increased extremist infiltration and insecurity.
“The ultimatum of these terrorists
[for the release of Al Qaeda prisoners and the formation of an Islamic state in Iraq] is not our problem it is for other people to deal with”, continues Archbishop Casmoussa.
“Our problem is insecurity in our country. We are not against anyone. If they want an Islamic government, if they want power then they should try to obtain it by instilling confidence in the population, not fear”.
Bishop Warduni adds that “the Christian community no longer feel safe, not even in the House of God. This attack will have a very negative influence on those who until now had chosen to remain in Baghdad, with many saying they are ready to leave”.
One of the first victims of the terrorist were the priests who had been leading the congregation in Sunday celebrations.
“I knew them both very well” says Bishop Warduni, “They were former students, both very young, both very committed to their vocation and community”. “This whole episode is truly sad and really very painful, but we must have hope and trust in God that he will protect his Church”.
The death toll from the massacre so far is 52.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/11/2010 20:10]