Bush Says he Reassured Pope on Iraq’s Beleaguered Christians

 

     

Vatican – AFP — President George W. Bush sought to reassure Pope Benedict XVI on the plight of war-torn Iraq’s minority Christians, the US leader said Saturday.

The pope “did express deep concern about the Christians inside Iraq,” Bush told a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. “I assured him we were working hard to make sure that people lived up to the constitution” calling for religious tolerance, he added.

In a half-hour audience at the Vatican earlier Saturday, Benedict and Bush talked about “the worrying situation in Iraq and the critical situation of the Christian community there,” the Holy See said in a statement. A Catholic Chaldean priest and three deacons were murdered last Sunday in northern Iraq, followed three days later by the kidnapping of another priest and five of his parishioners.

The Chaldean Catholic church is an autonomous Eastern rite church with upwards of 700,000 followers that maintains full communion with the Vatican. Benedict was “deeply saddened” by the murders and sent a telegram to Mosul Bishop of the Chaldeans Paul Faraj Rahho to convey “heartfelt condolences” to the victims’ families.

The pope called on “all men and women of good will” to work towards reconciliation in Iraq. Benedict said “it was hoped, once more, for ‘regional’ and ‘negotiated’ solutions to the conflicts and crises afflicting the (Middle East) region,” the Vatican statement said, describing the half-hour talks with Bush as “cordial.”

The pope, speaking later Saturday to officials of the Vatican department concerned with the Eastern rite church, urged that “everywhere, from the East to the West, the churches can profess their Christian faith in full freedom.”

He said all Catholics should “be guaranteed dignity, respect … (and) their rights as believers and citizens.”