“This is the third time our churches — Catholic or Orthodox — have been attacked,” the patriarch told Catholic News Service in a Nov. 9 telephone interview from Baghdad. Car bombers targeted churches in August and again in October.
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Three people died and more than 30 were injured when the car bombs went off minutes apart Nov. 8 at St. George Syrian Orthodox Church and at the Church of St. Matthew, the parish of the Assyrian Church of the East, the patriarch said.
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“The pressure of the bombs” broke the windows and damaged a wall of the nearby Catholic church, he said.
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Patriarch Delly said Iraq’s Christian minority, like the bombers, “make no distinction” between Catholic and Orthodox churches; an attack on one is felt as an attack on all.
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“We don’t know why they attacked the churches,” he said.
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The attacks could be seen as a reaction to the Nov. 8 assault by U.S. and Iraqi troops on Fallujah, “but they bombed churches before the attack on Fallujah,” Patriarch Delly said.
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The patriarch said he does not think the church bombings will lead to a greater exodus of Christians from Iraq.
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“Christians do not want people to make distinctions between Christians and Muslims; we are all children of God. Many people, both Christians and Muslims, want to leave because it is not safe here,” he said. “It’s not because of religion, but because there is no security.
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“We Christians have been here for 2,000 years and we do not want to leave,” he said.
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“Please, pray for us,” the patriarch said. “Pray that God will give us peace, tranquility and security.”
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END
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Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service\/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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