I am sure that many Iraqi’s are happy that their civil life was broken; not so much their social life.
The statement is a good reminder that we need to pray for Christians in Iraq who’s plight has been ignored; sacrificed on the altar of “make nice with the Sunnis and Shiites”. The Catholic Church seems to be the only one speaking up for them.
It’s really unfortunate that Bush has been so obsessed with the idea of making nice to Muslims that he seems unwilling to intervene in any way to protect Christians. Muslims won’t do it voluntarily, or at least, not the radical flakes in Iraq (although I’m sure that the great majority of the Muslims there really don’t care and wouldn’t bother Christians, left to their own devices). But Bush, like Clinton before him, seems bound and determined to make it clear that the US has no particular bond with Christians.
Benedict should spend as much effort cleaning up the pedophile priest scandal—including the Church’s complicity—as he does denouncing military and political actions. As an alumnus of the Hitler Youth, he should know a just fight against tyranny when he sees it. And he should render to Ceasar what is his. It’s hard to remain a practicing Catholic with this kind of nonsense coming from the top.