BAGHDAD (AP) — A Chaldean Catholic archbishop found dead after a kidnapping was remembered Friday as a man of peace beloved by all Iraqis.
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(Photo: AP Images)Mourners carry the coffin of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, during his funeral in a village outside Mosul in northern Iraq, Friday, March 14, 2008. Rahho, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen two weeks ago, just minutes after performing mass, in Mosul, a city the U.S. military considers the last urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Mourners carrying flowers and olive branches wept and wailed as Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho's coffin was carried down the streets of a village outside Mosul in northern Iraq. They were led by a church official carrying a wooden cross affixed with Rahho's picture.
Rahho was kidnapped by unknown gunmen two weeks ago, just minutes after performing Mass in Mosul, al-Qaida's last urban stronghold. Three of his aides were killed during the kidnapping, one of many attacks on the country's tiny Christian minority since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
His body was found Thursday.
"He was a man of honesty, loyalty and peace," Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly told mourners. "He was loved by all Iraqi people regardless of their sectarian background."
Rahho was the most senior Catholic cleric in Iraq after Delly — who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI in November.
President Bush, the pope and Iraq's prime minister condemned Rahho's kidnapping, which U.S. officials in Baghdad called "one more savage attempt by a barbaric enemy to sow strife and discord."
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraqi Christians have been targeted by Islamic extremists who label them "crusaders" loyal to U.S. troops. Militants have attacked churches, priests and businesses owned by Christians, many of whom have fled the country in a trend mirrored across the Islamic world.
The Chaldean church is an Eastern-rite denomination aligned with the Roman Catholic Church that recognizes the authority of the pope. Chaldean Catholics make up a tiny minority of the current Iraqi population but are the largest group among the less than 1 million Christians in Iraq, according to last year's International Religious Freedom Report from the U.S. State Department.
It was not immediately clear whether Rahho, 65, was killed or if he died of an illness while in captivity.
A Mosul morgue official, speaking on condition of anonymity for security concerns, said Rahho's body had no bullet holes. The official said police found the body in an early stage of decomposition under a thin layer of dirt just north of the city, suggesting that Rahho had been dead for a few days.
The archbishop had recently undergone surgery to remove a blood clot from his leg, according to church officials speaking on condition of anonymity for security concerns.
There have been no claims of responsibility for the archbishop's kidnapping or his death.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military on Friday said a suicide bomber who killed two people a day earlier in Zab, a village outside Kirkuk, about 180 miles north of Baghdad, was a woman.
Female suicide bombers have been involved in at least 20 attacks or attempted attacks since the war began, including the grisly bombings of two pet markets in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people last month.
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Our deepest condolences for the passing of His Eminence Chaldean Catholics Archbishop of Mosul Paulos Faraj Rahho. He was a true servant of our Lord in faith, hope and love. May he rest in peace.
Another aberration for the "religion of peace?" These are the people that our sons and daughters are fighting and dying for? How much more do we need to see before our government comes to its senses, pulls out, and lets the sons of Ishmael simply hack each other to death? A constitutional democracy among these savages? Disgusting.
May you rest in peace good and faithful servant of God.