Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Kidnapped In Iraq

There is not a whole lot on this right now, but Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Faraj Rahho was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Mosul. The gunmen also killed three people who were with the Archbishop at the time.

Gunmen kidnapped the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul on Friday in the northern Iraqi city and killed his driver and two guards, police said.

"He was kidnapped in the al-Nour district in eastern Mosul when he left a church. Gunmen opened fire on the car, killed the other three and kidnapped the archbishop," said provincial police spokesman Brigadier-General Khaled Abdul Sattar. [...]

A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped or killed, and churches bombed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Last June, gunmen murdered Catholic priest Ragheed Aziz Kani and three assistants in Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, after stopping his car near a church in the eastern part of the ethnically and religiously mixed city.

The assailants dragged out the priest and his assistants and shot them dead in an attack that was condemned by Pope Benedict.

A former Archbishop of Mosul, Basile Georges Casmoussa, was kidnapped at gunpoint in 2005, but was released after one day of captivity and said no ransom was paid.

Say a prayer for the safety of Archbishop Rahho, and also for the souls of the Archbishop's three murdered compainions.

(H/T: Vir Speluncae Catholicus at The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen)

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