Posted on 01/17/2005 10:36:02 AM PST by TexKat
VATICAN CITY - A Catholic archbishop in Mosul, Iraq, has been kidnapped, the Vatican said Monday. It identified the kidnapped man as Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, of the Syrian Catholic Church, one of the branches of the Catholic Church.
"The Holy See deplores in the firmest way such a terrorist act," a Vatican statement said, asking that he be freed immediately.
The reason for the kidnapping was unclear, but Christians — tens of thousands of whom live in and around Mosul — have been subjected to attacks in the past.
Christians make up just 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. The major Christian groups in Iraq include Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians. There are small numbers of Catholics.
Officials estimate that as many as 15,000 Iraqi Christians have left the country since August, when four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were attacked in a coordinated series of car bombings. The attacks killed 12 people and injured 61 others. Another church was bombed in Baghdad in September.
The Religion of Peace strikes again.
Where is the "Religion of Peace"'s response to this barbarianism?
Where is the moral out rage by the Western media?
I know, it's all George Bush's fault!
the slaughter of the family from NJ, now this kidnapping?hmmmmmmmmmmm
Catholic ping material?
Bookmark and prayers.
With this and the NJ thing, we may be in for some interesting times.
The terrorist are getting desperate to do something like this and alienate a hgue institutionlike the Roman Cathoic Church which has been trying to be neutral.
This should be clear evidence to everyone that the Jihadists are animals and cannot be reasoned with or bartered with.
Just kill each and every one of them we can find.
And pray for the Bishops safety, though I have little real hope he will survive another 6 months.
Bring in the death squads - hunt down the vermin
Maybe some day my church will wake up.
One certainly hopes not, but the poor Archbishop could well join the long line of Christian MARTYRS, beheaded at the hands of Muslims, for the last 1200 years.
Could this be an attempt to orchestrate a deal for the release of Zarqawi - rumored to have been arrested?
Looks like our invasion, by letting the lid off the Islamic cauldron, may have made things worse for Christians in Iraq than even under Saddam.
Saddam was a vicious thug -- but one target of his viciousness was the Islamic radicals who have now been let loose to wreck havoc. One result is that Christians have been fleeing Iraq since our invasion.
As a pissed off catholic I say...Warm up the MOABs. 100,000 pagans to our bishop.
"In hoc signo vinces."
Constantine 312 AD
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.