“We have been shocked by this event that killed young innocent Christians: two explosions for a brutal act of violence that only by the Grace of God did not turn into a much more extensive massacre. We are close to the victims’ families, we express our sincerest condolence to those who have lost their beloved ones”. In the words of card. Emmanuel III Delly, Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, there is all the bitterness and mourning after the terrorist attack that on May 2nd hit three buses of young Christian students going to Mosul. In a statement to Fides, the patriarch invokes “eternal repose for the souls of the victims, and let’s pray for all the injured ones, many of whom are in serious conditions, and for the consolation of their relatives. Our response today is one of prayer and forgiveness. We are all brothers and God’s sons, and the people of Iraq are called to make this truth their own”. “Let’s pray that the Lord may enlighten the minds and the hearts of our rulers and those who are guilty of these acts of violence, that they may be converted to peace and reconciliation. Our Christian response to the violence we suffer every day – the cardinal concluded – is and always will be this one, in the certainty that the Lord stays by our side and is manifested in the closeness, in the affection and in the support that all the Christians of the world show us”.

© SIR - 4 may 2010