VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul.
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(Photo: AP Images / Pier Paolo Cito)Pope Benedict XVI reads his homily during an open-air palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 16, 2008.
The pope also denounced the five-year-long war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life.
"Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!" Benedict said to applause at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.
On Thursday, the body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found near Mosul. He had been abducted on Feb. 29.
Benedict has called Rahho's death an "inhuman act of violence" that offended human dignity.
On Sunday, Benedict praised Rahho for his refusal to abandon his flock despite many threats and difficulties.
Benedict said Rahho's dedication to the Catholic Church and his death compelled him to "raise a strong and sorrowful cry" to denounce the violence in Iraq spawned by the war that began five years ago this week.
"At the same time, I make an appeal to the Iraqi people, who for the past five years have borne the consequences of a war that provoked the breakup of their civil and social life," Benedict said.
He urged them to raise their heads and reconstruct their life through "reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and coexistence among tribal, ethnic and religious groups."
The Vatican strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In its aftermath, Benedict has frequently criticized attacks against Iraqi Christians by Islamic extremists. Last year, he urged President Bush to keep the safety of Iraqi Christians in mind.
Benedict is due to preside over a memorial service at the Vatican on Monday in honor of Rahho. Typically, the pope only presides over such services when a cardinal dies.
The pontiff's appeal for peace came at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass, which opens the Church's busy Holy Week celebrations. They include the Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and death and the celebration of Christ's resurrection on Easter Sunday.
At the start of Mass, Benedict blessed palms and olive branches with holy water and then processed through St. Peter's Square, wearing intricate, red- and gold-brocaded vestments and clutching a woven palm frond.
A few hundred young people carried massive palm fronds at the start of the procession through the square as part of the lead-up to celebrations for the Catholic Church's annual World Youth Day.
Benedict plans to attend World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, in July.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Right, the blind leading people. The archbishop murder does not have anything to do with the US Armed Forces. Only the lost ones would think that the Iraqi Chaldean Christians are crusaders recon pinpointing Sunni Islam jihadist.
caddy27 "You can't negotiate with terrorists, they are unreasonable and use violence as a means of peace."
Hmmm, violence as a means of peace. Isn't that exactly what the US has done in Iraq, and they haven't exactly gotten peace. US terrorism in Iraq has led to the destruction of Iraq and its people., Read my post on Iraq & the ME below, the truth will set you free.
aritonang, what? mako no a sense.
You can't negotiate with terrorists, they are unreasonable and use violence as a means of peace. We have to finish what we started. If we back out now we will indefinately appear weak and defeated. I am very sorry for the losses and my heart and prayers go to all of the families involved but we will surely reap more if we back down now. Let's support our president and the troops in this time. They need our support more than our negativity.
scitsonga, only illinformed agnostic like you can correlate the murder of the Chaldean Catholic leader His Eminence Paulos Faraj Rahho with US Armed Force involvement in Iraq. Are your ways of thinking similar to the foreign sunni insurgents there? How would you feel if those insurgents kills your son and tell you that because your family is not Muslim then your family are with the US Armed Forces and killing your son is legitimate. Do you say umm perhaps you are right? Do you say maybe I should blame the US armed forces for the killing of my agnostic offpsring? Your logic is dead wrong. The Chaldean Catholics are Iraqis and do not support the US armed forces there. Where do you get your logic? The madrassa? LOL
Invasion of Iraq by US: Act of State Sponsored Terrorism
Interviews and polls taken of the way Iraqi's felt about their country before and after the invasion seem to indicate that the average Iraqi felt more secure and better off economically than today. The Iraqi people did not ask to be "liberated" by the US. There is in fact a tremendous level of resentment by most Iraqi's towards the US because of the invasion which they did not want or ask for. The average person in Iraq, and indeed the average citizen of the Middle East , understand why the US attempts to impose its will in the ME. Its simple, its mainly about OIL. How would americans take to an invasion of the US by a foreign army - not very well I'm sure. Contrary to what bush, cheney and the neocons tell the largely ignorant american public (ignorant from the standpoint of little to no knowledge of the ME and its history as it relates to the imperial ambitions of Western countries to secure oil interests) the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with liberating the Iraqi's from the grip of sadddam. Its all about US control and influence in the ME. 9-11 occurred because of decades abuses by the US in the ME. Learn about US abuses in the ME for decades, and one will learn why 9-11 occured. Its really too bad the US forgot lessons learned from Vietnam. In both the case of Vietnam and Iraq, american ignorance and arrogance led to the deaths and injury of millions of innocent Vietnamese and Iraqi's. By the way, Iraq and Saddam were not involved with 9-11.
The thing that really adds insult to injury in Iraq is the fact that the US had no post invasion strategy. bush and his band of fools completely ignored the warnings ME experts offered in regard to having a post invasion strategy to provide security. They did not have a strategy to protect the people nor the countries infrastructure. Amazingly, and quite telling, the only real security provided after the fall of Baghdad, was military protection of the oil ministry. In the mean time, hospitals, schools, clinics, museums, government buildings, universities, libraries, power plants, water and sewage plants- all looted.
As an agnostic, and a student of ME history, I opposed this war from the beginning on moral & ethical grounds. For a religion that professes the importance of love and the sanctity of live, there sure was/is a lot of enthusiam and support for the Iraq invasion by the Christian community.
A voice of reason in a chaotic world.