Speaking Sunday, October 13, during his  traditional Sunday Angelus blessing at the Vatican, the pontiff said he learned "today of the kidnapping of two good priests in Mosul, who are being threatened with death." Pope Benedict XVI added he wanted to "appeal to their abductors to immediately release these two men of religion."

He told an estimated 40,000 strong crowd that, "Violence can not resolve conflicts." The pope stressed he wanted to say "a heartfelt prayer that they may soon be freed and that all those who are suffering may soon have peace."

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, head of the Syrian Catholic Church in Mosul, admitted to reporters he had delayed publicizing the incident as he hoped the kidnappers would demand a ransom and release the priests. He said the priests were abducted after participating in a funeral in western Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Gunmen apparently ambushed the priests’ car, dragged them out and took them to an unidentified location, late Saturday, October 12.

ABDUCTORS SILENT?

Casmoussa, who was kidnapped in 2005 but was released a day later without ransom after the kidnappers realized his identity, said he has not been heard from the abductors.

However Reuters news agency quoted Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Donnelly, a US military spokesman in northern Iraq, as saying the military was investigating local intelligence reports that the priests were being held by an unidentified group for a $1 million ransom. "It’s another barbaric tactic and it’s a sign that they’re desperate," Donnelly said of the kidnapping.

The latest kidnapping of the priests, whose names were not immediately released apparently because of security concerns, came after United Nations report on human rights in Iraq said the situation of minority communities, including Christians, had "deteriorated significantly" since mid-April in many parts of the country.

The Christian community in Iraq is about three percent of the country’s 26 million people, according to several estimates.

MANY FLEE

Under late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein there were at least an estimated 750,000 Christians when war broke out, but after United States forces toppled the regime their situation grew even more precarious as insurgents, including Islamic militants, stepped up attacks.

In the summer of 2004, insurgents launched a coordinated bombing campaign against Baghdad churches, sending Christians fleeing in fear. A second wave of anti-Christian attacks began in September 2006 after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be anti-Muslim. Church bombings increased and a Chaldean priest, also in Mosul, was kidnapped and later found beheaded.

Also, a Chaldean Catholic priest and five Christians with him were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Baghdad in June this year, but were released about two weeks later. The Chaldean rite is one of the ancient rites of the Catholic Church and its members, mostly in Iraq and Syria, are in unity with Rome.

TURKEY ATTACKS

News of the latest kidnapping of priests in northern Iraq came as witnesses said the Turkish military fired several shells into a northern Iraqi village, but no causalities were reported. The shells hit since late Saturday, October 13, in a village near the Turkish border in Dahuk province.

Turkey’s government is seeking parliamentary approval this week for a military operation in northern Iraq, despite stron objections from Washington. Ankara blames rebels based in Iraq for deadly attacks in southeastern Turkey. The violence was expected to increase concerns among Christians. At least several hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians are believed to have fled Iraq to neighboring countries, and many have been displaced with the country, according to church sources.

Despite the dangers, some Christians still attend churches and evangelical groups claim there has been an increased interest among Iraqis to receive Bibles and other Christian literature, BosNewsLife learned.

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