AmericanPapist Comments
While Archbishop Rahho was in captivity, our parish included him daily in Prayer for the faithful. i am saddened to hear the news. May his death brings peace to the Iraqui Christian community. May his soul rest in peace.
Reqiesciat in Pace, Archbishop, a martyr to the Faith. Tom
Despite rumours in Rome that the Archbishop died of his illness, I should also mention that CNN is reporting that his corpse shows signs of gun-shot wounds.
Those rumors, I'll bet, were based on nothing but wishful thinking, as if a prisoner dying of medical complications were less offensive than his being shot.
Regardless, the Chaldean Bishop in Detroit's assigning blame to the USA is, ahhh, ....silly at best.
take a wild guess what the media will now report, if it makes the news tonight at all.
If it makes the news tonight it'll probably be at the end of the programs. They'd rather report on Spitzer's call girl. If he died of his illness, what would be the point of shooting him? Come on...
Those rumors, I'll bet, were based on nothing but wishful thinking, as if a prisoner dying of medical complications were less offensive than his being shot.
Indeed... although there is a genuine ambiguity here because the Archbishop was suffering from ill-health that required daily medication. It's not clear whether his wounds were fatal or whether it was his illness which killed him. Doesn't change the morality of the situation, of course. The kidnappers know the Archbishop's situation.
Regardless, the Chaldean Bishop in Detroit's assigning blame to the USA is, ahhh, ....silly at best.
There's a certain truth to what the Bishop is saying. Now, obviously the USA is not responsible for the kidnapping and death in the way that the kidnappers themselves or their supporters are.
However, I've known enough Chaldean Catholics from before the war to understand their situation.
Without approving of Saddam's person or his regime, they were very aware before the war that Muslim extremism was not a huge threat to the Church in Iraq. They repeatedly warned the international community that an invasion of Iraq would leave them defenceless and lead to direct hostility directed against them both from indigenous elements that didn't have the 'freedom' to persecute Christians under Saddam and from a new hostility from their previously friendly Muslim neighbours who would associate the Christians with the inevitable chaos which an invasion would bring.
Things have played out just like that. Indigenous bigots now have the freedom to persecute Christians. There's been a hardening of hearts amongst many Muslims against their Christian neighbours. Added to that, you have outside Islamic terrorists groups who have taken the opportunity to move in to Iraq and cause havoc for the Christians.
It's very, very easy to understand that many Iraqi Christians wish that the Americans and British had somehow handled the whole thing very differently.
In that last pic, I imagine he's saying: "I'm going before you, Holiness, but don't fret: We'll see each other again in good time."
For those of you who consider the New York Times to be the Great Satan and don't bother to read it, this article has good coverage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/1...&hp&
oref=slogin
I'm sure there will be complaints that it's not devoted entirely to the archbishop, but it's part of a larger story.
Rest in peace, Your Grace!
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