Radical Muslims attack two churches Iraq: demand catholics post condemnation of pope's words

Asia News ^ | September 25, 2006

[NYer]

Muslim militias have forced Christians to pin up posters condemning the words of Benedict XVI in Regensburg. But religious leaders, including al Sistani, have expressed their friendship with the Apostolic Nunciature. And the representative of the Iraqi Shiite leader would like to meet the pope.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – The start of the month of Ramadan in Iraq was marked by violence but also by significant openness by al Sistani towards the Vatican. Yesterday, two churches, one in Baghdad and another in Mosul, were struck. Recently, the country has seen an escalation of attacks against Christians, thought by some to be the reaction of radical Muslims to the speech of the pope in Regensburg. However, religious leaders, among them al Sistani, have shown solidarity and understanding towards the Vatican. Moreover, the representative of the highest religious exponent of Iraqi Shiites has expressed the desire to be able to visit the Pope.

Yesterday morning at 11.15am local time, armed men attacked the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul, firing at least 80 shots on the building. “Thank God there was no Mass at the time,” one member of the community told AsiaNews, “so no one was killed or injured, there was just some damage done to the eastern part of the building and a few broken windows.”

The atmosphere in the city is very tense. Recently, Muslim militias threatened the Catholic bishop and priests that unless they publicly condemned the address of the pope at the University of Regensburg within 72 hours, Christians would be killed and churches burned down. In recent years, some churches, shrines and even the bishop’s house were the target of terrorist attacks. For fear of further attacks, the bishop had posters put up to say that “neither Iraqi Christians nor the pope want to destroy ties with Muslims”.

Defying the prevailing atmosphere of terror, last night, Chaldean Catholics left their homes to participate in Vespers Mass in the very church that had been attacked. “Our faith is a challenge to violence. The militias fear us because our faith is stronger than their bullets,” a Christian told AsiaNews.

Yesterday morning in Baghdad, two bombs went off outside the Assyrian Orthodox Church of St Mary in the central neighbourhood of Karrada. The attackers put a bomb under the parish priest’s car. The blast, that took place at 9.30am, drew many people, including some from the parish. Immediately afterwards another bomb went off close by, injuring many people and killing a watchman of the church.

Some think these bombs targeted Christians in the wake of the controversy surrounding the pope’s speech in Regensburg. But in recent days, Orthodox communities distanced themselves from the words of the pope, putting up posters outside their churches expressing their disagreement with him. Some Catholic figures said the attack on St Mary’s Church was much more likely a vendetta based on ethnic-religious motives: the Assyrian Orthodox Patriarch recently visited communities in Kurdistan and probably the bombs were meant to be a threat by Sunni or Shiite militias against such ties with Kurds.

The lecture of Benedict XVI in Regensburg was misunderstood by the media as being an attack on Islam. Although the pope explained the true meaning of his words several times over, bitter and threatening criticisms continue to come from many sectors of Islam. In Iraq, it is fundamentalist and political Muslim splinter groups that are reacting violently to the pope’s address. Recently, the Secretary of the Nunciature in Baghdad, Mgr Thomas Halim Abib, met religious representatives of Islam and offered them an Arabic translation of the words of the pope, so Muslim leaders would be able to understand the true meaning of what was said. Muslim religious leaders undertake the task of informing their communities. Mgr Thomas told AsiaNews that in these days, the official representative of the Grand Ayatollah al Sistani, the undisputed leader of Shiite Islam in Iraq, visited the Vatican Nunciature twice to express friendship and solidarity. The representative of al Sistani accepted the explanations rendered by the Nunciature and spread them among all Iraqi Shiite communities, expressing respect for the Holy See “that has always been close to the Iraqi people”. The representative of the grand ayatollah also said he wished to go to Rome to visit Pope Benedict XVI.

[Kolokotronis]

I think you are right. +BXVI just flexed his muscles and showed the world how not to be afraid. Now imagine the power of the Pope of Rome coupled with the power of the Moscow Patriarch and the prestige of the EP (not to say the power and money of his flock in America) and the Patriarch of Antioch (together with the Melkite and Maronite Patriarchs). Jerusalem I fear may be a lost cause for now and Alexandria, well, we'll have to see. The new Patriarch there is very, very respected in Africa and may turn out to be a force to be reckoned with there.

[bwteim]

"[the Pope's] policy of child abuse cover ups in the vatican , ant-contraception promotion in africa"

What is "ant-contraception promotion"? Is it fire ant prevention? If, so, I'm all for it.

[bornacatholic]

Hey, brother. I was thining about you the other day. I was in Tarpon Springs down by the Sponge Docks and I remembered when one of your Prelates was there last Easter and the young men dove into the water trying to be the first to retrieve the Cross he had thrown in there. Very neat town. Me and the Bride are talking about going there for next Easter to witness all this firsthand and also, let's be honest, to have a chance to chow down on some Greek Food and wine :)

[kosta50]

[re supporting Turkey's entriy into the EU] In many ways, its the EP's only hope for survival in Constantinople

I can see that as a bare necessity IF there was any hope things will change. But, I don't know how to put it to you, Kolo, there is no hope Constantinople will ever be non-Muslim. If anything, things will get worse. Islam is on the offensive, IMO. I believe Turkey's entry into the EU will open the flood gate for Muslim invasion of Europe for the second time.

Sometimes, Dhimifiacation was necessary to survive. In this particular case, it is a lost cause. The sooner this is understood the better. I think Christianity needs to draw a line in the sand, but Christian Europe has forgotten its Christian roots. It seems to me it is desperately trying to be "accepting" and "understanding" and "tolerant" and all-inclusive because that's what Washington has been drumming into their heads since 1945.

Besides, dhimification doesn't win anything; it's a reprieve, a minimum payment to stay alive short of converting to Islam. It was never a bargaining chip. It can keep status quo at best, and that is even doubtful.

I believe that all Muslims in this world will eventually show their true colors. They must, because otherwise they will be counted in the same group as Christians and Jews, trying to co-exist peacefully with them. That's a sin according to Islam. The wages for sin are death.

The only thing Muslims hate more than Christians and Jews are, IMO, Muslims who are not "hot" enough, but "lukewarm," and the apostates among them.

Turkey will install a Turk as the "Ecumenical Patriarch." He must be a citizen and cannot be naturalized. It's time to establish Ecumenical Throne in Moscow, the third Rome, where over 80% of world's Orthodox Christians belong. This is in keeping with the Fourth ecumenical Council's proclamation that honors and privileges are those of churches of imperial and state dignity.

It's time to establish Greek Patriarchy, with an eternal claim to Constantinople (as Serbia is about to enact a Constitution which eternally put claim on Kosovo) and its liberation from Islam.

I think Europe should be reversing the tide, but we have been building "islamiyas" in Bosnia and Kosovo, as we have created Afghanistan Taliban and provided, indirectly, fertile ground for al Qaeda with our myopic and naïve foreign policy of "playing the natives."

I am convincxned that if Christianity does not come together and kick Islam out of Europe, Europeans nations will have their own Bosnias and Kosovos in a relatively short time.

Let's not forget the way Islam treats Christianity (in S. Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, etc. there are NO churches; pretty soon, the same will be true as other Muslim countries become Islamic).

Islam only pretends to be tolerant, IMO. The Kuran teaches no tolerance with infidels. In places where it doesn't have to be tolerant, it has shown no tolerance at all!

[TomasUSMC]

Good links, thanks.

[Kolokotronis]

"I can see that as a bare necessity IF there was any hope things will change. But, I don't know how to put it to you, Kolo, there is no hope Constantinople will ever be non-Muslim. If anything, things will get worse. Islam is on the offensive, IMO. I believe Turkey's entry into the EU will open the flood gate for Muslim invasion of Europe for the second time."

I agree with you, kosta. But the EP clings to the hope that the Patriarchate can survive in Constantinople. Personally, I think its over and he should move to Mount Athos or even here to the States.

[ArrogantBustard]

Ant contraception?

Fascinating ... some insecticides actually work that way ... they don't kill the insects, just sterilise them. It allows the insect to carry the poison back to its nest and spread it to the other bugs.

I wasn't aware that the Vatican had a position on the matter ... but OK. Maybe they had a cockroach infestation ...

[bwteim]

Heheh! Preventing fornication would lessen chances for formication;)

[ArrogantBustard]

Je$$e? Dat you?

[bwteim]

You know, I can just hear him say something 'profound' like that;)