WASHINGTON, March 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The body of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop has been discovered following his kidnapping in late February. Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was abducted in the northern city of Mosul by men who killed his driver and two guards.
In an interview with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Chaldean church officials said that the Archbishop’s captors made “impossible” demands in exchange for his safe return, among them financial support for opposing Americans.
A priest in Mosul told Compass Direct News today that the real motive for impossible ransom demands and the archbishop’s killing was to push the Christians out of the city. “They are pressuring us to leave Mosul and leave our church,” said the priest. “And many families in Mosul are afraid, because if they killed the bishops and priests, then…”
J.H. McDonnell the Director of Religious Liberty Programs for the Institute on Religion and Democracy commented on the news, saying: “The Chaldean Christians, some of the last remaining speakers of Aramaic, the language of Jesus, are suffering under the persecution of Jihadis that seek to drive them from their ancestral homes and create a pure Islamic caliphate erased of the memory of Iraqi Christians.”
“Archbishop Rahho’s fate is a reminder that extremism is not solely the result of unmet material need – for the church negotiated in good faith to secure Rahho’s release – but rather that evil exists in the world and must be confronted.”
McDonnell added that “Christians in the United States must begin to stand up for the Church in Iraq. In light of the great sacrifice that our country is making to bring freedom and democracy to all of the people of Iraq, the United States government must acknowledge that defenseless Iraqi Christians are particularly singled out in this jihad, and must be protected. The Mosul area is known as a hotbed of Islamic extremism. This was no act by ordinary criminals, but rather an act of intimidation by cowards that preyed upon a peaceful infirm man.”
Catholics in the Philippines are in similar strife. In the southern Philippine provinces of Sulu and Tawi-tawi, the Catholic community, which makes up about 3% of the mostly Muslim population, is under severe attack.
Bishop Angelito Lampon,who presides in the region, told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) how he and the other priests and religious in the area are now under military protection, following the spate of murders and kidnappings against Church personnel over recent years. He himself had to build a guard house at the front gate of his episcopal residence. He calls on all his Catholic brothers and sisters around the world to pray for the Church in Jolo that she may have “the strength and courage to continue her path, regardless of the external circumstances.”
Lampon’s predecessor, Bishop Ben de Jesus (OMI), was murdered on February 4, 1997 in front of his Cathedral. As recently as January 15, 2008, another Filipino priest, Fr. Rey Roda, OMI was shot dead in Tabawan, Tawi-tawi by Muslim armed men. Another priest was killed on 28th December 2000.
See related LifeSiteNews stories:
The Implications of Fundamental Islamic Expansion in North America
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030504.html
Abandonment of Judeo/Christian Heritage Has Left West Vulnerable to Fundamental Islam
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030613.html