Kidnapped Archbishop Found Dead in Iraq
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 14, 2008;

BAGHDAD, March 13 -- The body of a senior Christian cleric was found Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, two weeks after gunmen abducted him there and killed three of his associates.
The death of Paulos Faraj Rahho, 65, archbishop of Mosul's Chaldean community, prompted expressions of remorse and condemnation from the Iraqi government and Christian leaders.
Pope Benedict XVI, in a message to the Chaldean patriarch in Iraq, called the killing an "act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human person and seriously harms the cause of fraternal coexistence among the beloved Iraqi people."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said it was a crime of "aggression aimed at inciting sedition among" Iraqis.
Most Christians in Iraq are Chaldeans, members of an Eastern Rite denomination that recognizes the pope's authority. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, radical Muslim insurgents have attacked Christians and their stores and churches, asserting that they were more loyal to Iraq's occupiers than to Iraq.

__________________
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I have legalised robbery. Called it a belief
I have run with the money. And hid like a theif
I have re-written history. With my armies and my crooks
Invented memories. I did burn all the books
And I can still hear his laughter. And I can still hear his song
The mans too big. The mans too strong

This is a tragedy of major proportions. However, as this involves a senior cleric in a Christian community that is small, there has been very little news time shed on this event. This bishop appeared on a few American shows discussing the Chaldean Catholic community around the world. It's really interesting to hear about this very little-known group in the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict's comments in his Palm Sunday closing remarks were heated and direct about how the killing and violence in Iraq has to stop.