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(Jan 29, 2006 -RV-) Several churches were bombed in Iraq on Sunday, and one bomb exploded near the Apostolic Nunciature in Baghdad, causing some minor damage. Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq, Archbishop Fernando Filoni has this reaction...
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Catholic Iraqi Churches are bombed!
Bomb attacks on Catholic-Iraqi churches kill four:

A series of car bombs targeting the Catholic-Churches in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad are believed to have killed at least four people and wounded several others. There were also reports of bombs going off near Catholic-Churches in the northern city of Kirkuk. Last August a wave of bomb
attacks on Catholic-Churches killed 11 people.
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Iraq Churches Targeted in Series of Attacks
3 Killed; Blasts Hit Baghdad and Kirkuk

BAGHDAD, Iraq, JAN. 30, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Three people died Sunday and more than 20 were injured when bombers targeted six crowded churches in Iraq.
Terrified parishioners ran for their lives when the car bombers struck in coordinated attacks that took place as services got under way on Sunday evening in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk.
Among the dead in Kirkuk was 13-year-old Fadi Raad Elias, who was killed when the bombers struck the Virgin Mary Catholic Church.
In the capital, Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly missed the bombs by a matter of minutes after security checks delayed his arrival at St. Mary Catholic Church in the Al Bonook quarter of Baghdad.
More than a dozen people were injured in Baghdad when simultaneous explosions went off at four churches.
A further bomb exploded close to the Vatican Embassy in Al Wiya, Baghdad.
Both in Kirkuk, where two churches were hit, and also in Baghdad, the bombers targeted Christians of many denominations including Chaldeans, Syrian Orthodox, Latin rite and the Assyrian Church of the East.
Clerics' call?
According to sources referred to ZENIT by Aid to the Church in Need, it is believed that fundamentalist Muslim clerics called for the attacks after a series of cartoons in a Danish newspaper denigrated the prophet Mohammed. The images were subsequently broadcast on Islamic satellite channels.
Sunday's attacks were similar to the bombing of churches in Baghdad and Mosul in August 2004, which killed 15 people.
In statements on Vatican Radio, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, apostolic nuncio in Iraq, said: "At this moment it is difficult to theorize on these attacks, it is too early."
"It is clear that destabilization is one of the fundamental aspects of those desiring to leave the country in chaos," he added.
Condemning the attacks, Marie-Ange Siebrecht, who heads the Middle East department of Aid to the Church in Need, said: "We hear about crisis in Iraq so often and yet the world is totally unaware of the suffering of Christians in a country which has been their home for thousands of years."
Aid to the Church in Need reported that in Baghdad and also in the northern city of Mosul, dozens of Christian university students were physically attacked by Muslim undergraduates who shouted slogans against them, calling them nonbelievers and American agents.
In statements to AsiaNews, Patriarch Delly said: "We are afraid, but we find comfort in prayer."
ZE06013006
Nuncio in Iraq: The Situation Is Insecure
Interview With Archbishop Fernando Filoni

BAGHDAD, Iraq, FEB. 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- "Thank God, we survived," said Archbishop Fernando Filoni, apostolic nuncio in Iraq, after a car bomb exploded near the nunciature in Baghdad on Sunday.

During these difficult years for Iraqi Christians, the presence of Archbishop Filoni, 59, has been a sign of the Catholic Church's solidarity. And to show its closeness to the faithful, the nunciature has not adopted special security measures.

The archbishop discussed the attack with the Italian newspaper Avvenire.

Q: Is it the first time this happened?

Archbishop Filoni: Yes, yes, a totally destroyed car bomb is there outside. It demolished part of the garden wall and broke windowpanes -- thank God, limited damages.

Q: An attack against the Vatican diplomatic representation -- what do you think? Was it planned?

Archbishop Filoni: We think so, as at the same time attacks took place on churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk.

Q: Have we returned to August 2004, when there was a series of bloody attacks on the Christian community? Is there a strategy behind it all?

Archbishop Filoni: There are parallel elements -- the day, for example, the Christian Sunday. The explosions took place at the time the faithful were going to church. And they took place in a series. If we analyze these events, we realize that there are many that are similar.

Q: These attacks on buildings of worship, the nunciature, show that the situation is difficult and insecure.

Archbishop Filoni: The situation is insecure and continues to be difficult, very, very difficult.

It has worsened because of the fact that threats against Christians, against ecclesiastics, are increasing. Kidnappings continue to take place. All this makes the situation totally precarious.

In regard to Sunday's attacks, some see a relation with the profanation of the figure of Mohammed which took place in Denmark. Obviously, in Muslim countries there is much anger.

Also here, in Iraq, there are many petitions, including that of the Shiite religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr, for the Pope to intervene. At this moment there is an atmosphere of agitation.

Q: Have measures been adopted to protect the nunciature?

Archbishop Filoni: The street on which the explosion took place has been closed to traffic and the police presence has increased.

Q: The climate of fear and chaos increases day after day.

Archbishop Filoni: Undoubtedly for our Christians it becomes a motive for further concern. If they could, many of them would leave the country.

Q: What do the religious leaders of the Muslim community say?

Archbishop Filoni: Some manifest solidarity. For Christmas, many sent their best wishes to the Holy Father, the apostolic nunciature. Of course, these enlightened individuals are not the ones who cause concern. The fears come from very different environments.
ZE06020120
Kirkuk Bishop Sees "a Church of Martyrs"

BAGHDAD, Iraq, FEB. 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk says the Christian community in Iraq is becoming "once again a Church of martyrs," after Sunday's car bomb attacks.
Three people died and more than 20 were injured when bombers targeted six churches in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk.
Describing the "astonishing courage" of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants alike, Archbishop Sako, 57, spoke of the defiance of his faithful, who "would not be pushed out of Iraq" by acts of aggression.
After presiding at the funeral of 14-year-old Fadi Raad Elias, who died in the blasts, the archbishop described how people packed the Kirkuk cathedral to show "they were even more attached to Christianity than ever before."
The prelate told the charity Aid to the Church in Need that his faithful were consoled by the many Muslims who attended the funeral, even Muslim women, which, he said, was very unusual.
The archbishop said that he had given money from Aid to the Church in Need to grieving families and friends struggling to pay for the funeral and lacking essential needs.
"They felt so grateful," he said. "For them, it was an important symbol of solidarity. It means they are not isolated."

U.S. Episcopate Signals Support to Iraq Patriarch
WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference expressed concern at the recent targeting of Christian churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk and the bombing near the Vatican nunciature in Iraq.
"We are greatly saddened by the deaths and injuries of the innocent victims of these heinous acts" on Jan. 29, said Bishop William Skylstad in a letter to Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
"We wish to assure you of our solidarity with the Church in Iraq at this difficult time," the U.S. prelate said in the letter dated Feb. 2. "Our prayers are with the deceased, the survivors and their families."
"We condemn all of the violent attacks against innocent people in Iraq without regard to the religion or political identity of the victims," Bishop Skylstad stated. "It is particularly reprehensible when terrorists attack religious communities at times of worship or religious events."

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Spate of Crime Hits Glasgow Churches
Archbishop Concerned After Attacks on Clergy

GLASGOW, Scotland, FEB. 1, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Archbishop Mario Conti will ask authorities for assistance in protecting his clergy, after a spate of six incidents over 12 days.
"I am horrified at the level of intimidation my priests are having to face," said the archbishop of Glasgow in a statement.
"These men have given their lives to serve God and the communities in which they minister," he said. "Bad enough the opportunist thief, but for two elderly priests to be accosted in their presbyteries and threatened is appalling in any civilized society."
The latest incident happened this morning. Father Tommy Holloran, 75, was threatened and robbed after someone broke into his residence.
Other incidents at parishes involved break-ins or vandalism to priests' cars.
St. Mary's Parish in the Calton was broken into Jan. 21 while Monsignor Peter Smith was saying the vigil Mass. The thief caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.
At St. Brigid's Parish in Toryglen 83-year-old Canon Nicholas Rowan was left shaken after being confronted at knifepoint by his assailant Sunday morning.

Update: 05 FEBRUARY 2006
The Danish Embassy in Lebanon was torched today by Muslim protestors, and the Marionite Church also sustained damage. Churches again were bombed in Iraq and New Zealand by Muslim extremists today as well.

The rioters, many of them Syrians, also attacked a Maronite church and scuffled with security forces, burning police and army vehicles. The State Department held the Syrian government responsible for similar actions a day earlier in Damascus."We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations, since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Witnesses to yesterday's riot reported hearing many of the attackers speaking in Syrian and Palestinian accents, raising suspicions that Syria orchestrated much of the violence to destabilize its former vassal state.
A police official told Reuters wire service that 76 of 174 rioters arrested yesterday were Syrians. The others comprised 38 Lebanese, 35 Palestinians and 25 stateless Bedouins.
The protesters also attacked a Maronite church near the consulate in Beirut, straining fragile Christian-Muslim relations. Rocks damaged St. Maroun Church and several church vehicles were destroyed during the morning's Mass.
Hundreds of Christians flooded the streets around the church last night. One church elder said that the attack meant a war between Christians and Islam. "We love America; we love George Bush," he said. "We love Israel and today we, the Lebanese Christians, love the Danes."
"Sunni Muslim leaders condemned the rioting."
"This has nothing to do with Islam at all," Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told Future television. "Destabilizing security and vandalism give a wrong image of Islam. Prophet Muhammad cannot be defended this way."

"Priest Shot Dead in Church in Turkey"

ANKARA, Turkey, FEB. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- An Italian priest was shot dead in his church in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon.
CNN Turk television said police were looking for a 17-year-old seen fleeing from the Santa Maria Church, reported Reuters.
The state Anatolian news agency identified the murdered priest as Father Andrea Santaro, 60, reported to have been in Turkey for about five years.
The following is Fr. Santaro's last letter before his murder:
"Beloved,
I am writing from Rome, where I have spent three weeks before returning to Turkey. They have been very intense days, dedicated to testimonies, meetings, catechesis, conferences, and times of prayer. Everything has been oriented to promote information and knowledge between the Middle East, seen through my personal experience, and our West, in line with the objective of Window to the Middle East.
I have found everywhere interest and participation, a sincere desire to understand and to establish bonds of communion. I have seen the importance and the possibility of undertaking an exchange of spiritual gifts between these two worlds. The Middle East, great 'holy land,' where God decided to communicate himself in a special way with man, has its riches and the capacity, thanks to the light that God has always infused, to illuminate our Western world.
But the Middle East has its darkness, its problems, often tragic, and its 'voids.' It needs, therefore, in turn that that Gospel that came from there be sowed again and that the presence of Christ be proposed again there. It is a reciprocal 're-evangelization' and an enrichment that the two worlds can exchange.
Meanwhile, in Trabzon, the minute Christian community has met every Sunday morning to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word and the Church has been opened twice a week to Muslims, under the responsibility of a trustworthy person. I will let you know how it goes.
I greet you, commending these reflections to you and exhorting you to always put faith in contact with the present moment. It must not be an abstract and generic faith, but a faith like that of the first "beginnings," which has been transmitted to us from generation to generation. As the Gospel says, leaven has a mysterious capacity to ferment the dough, if it comes into contact with it -- the dough of all times, all places, all generations.
Moreover, Jesus said: 'I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness.' If his light illuminates us, not only will it illuminate every situation, even the most tragic, but in addition we too, as He always said, will be light. The tenuous light of a candle illuminates a house, an extinguished lamp leaves everything in darkness. May he shine in us with his Word, with his Spirit, with the sap of his saints. May our life be the wax that is consumed willingly.
Affectionately,
Father Andrea

Anatolian quoted Trabzon Governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir as saying: "We condemn this attack against a man of religion." Bishop Luigi Padovese in Turkey Links Priest's Murder to Muslim Protests:
ANKARA, Turkey, FEB. 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A bishop sees a link between the killing of an Italian missionary priest and the protests of Muslim fundamentalists against the caricatures of Mohammed published in Western newspapers.
Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia, said he did not think this connection with the murder of Father Andrea Santoro, 60, is "incidental."
"This morning I went to the morgue," he told the AsiaNews agency. "Father Andrea was killed with two shots: After the first, he was able to shout out to a young man who was in the Church with him to take cover; the second shot killed him."
Bishop Padovese added that the information he gathered today has led him to believe that the killer "was not a young man."
"Both the young man in the Church and the volunteer from Rome who helps out in the parish have spoken of an adult," the prelate said. "Father Andrea was kneeling; the person who shot did not even need to enter, he stayed at the church's door, at a distance of 4 or 5 meters. He took aim and fired."

Prelate's reasoning

The bishop excludes the hypothesis that Father Andrea was killed because of his efforts to rescue prostitutes from the mafias involved in human trafficking.
The prelate said he did not think that Father Santoro's "work was at such a level to provoke someone to eliminate him."
"One could have expected some kind of threat from criminal," but not a murder, he added.
Rather, Bishop Padovese sees a link with the Muslim protests during these days over the cartoons depicting Mohammed.
"The fact that he was killed at this point in time does not seem incidental to me; otherwise, it could also have happened some other time," the bishop said. "Besides, the atmosphere here too is heated, not to say overheated. And here too, fanatical Islamics can be found."

Benedict XVI Hopes Priest's Murder Stirs Solidarity
Missionary Slain in Turkey After Celebrating Mass

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- On learning of the murder of an Italian missionary in Turkey, Benedict XVI expressed hope that the priest's blood would be a seed for "authentic fraternity among peoples."
Father Andrea Santoro, 60, was killed by a gunman on Sunday afternoon while he was praying after celebrating Mass at his parish Church of St. Mary Kilisesi, in the city of Trabzon on the Black Sea. Police are investigating the slaying.
"I hope that his shed blood will become a seed of hope to build an authentic fraternity among peoples," the Pope said in one of the two telegrams sent in his own name on receiving news of the slaying.
One of the messages was sent to Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for Rome, the murdered priest's native diocese; the other, to Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia.
In the message sent to Cardinal Ruini, Benedict XVI tells of his sharing in the sorrow "of the whole Church of Rome because of the grievous loss of such an esteemed and zealous priest" whom he describes as a "courageous witness of the Gospel of charity."

For the Gospel

In the telegram sent to the ordinary of Anatolia, the Holy Father mentions Father Santoro's work "for the Gospel and at the service of needy and marginalized people."
At the same time, the Pontiff manifests his "particular closeness to this Christian community" in Turkey and reaffirms his "strong condemnation of all forms of violence."
Andrea Santoro was born in Priverno, in the Latium region near Rome, on Sept. 7, 1945, and was ordained priest in the diocese of Rome on Oct. 18, 1970.
After working in numerous parishes, including as parish priest in churches of Rome, in 2000 he left as a Fidei Donum missionary, establishing himself in Trabzon, where he promoted the small Catholic community of St. Mary Kilisesi.
In 2003 he founded the association Window to the Middle East, dedicated to study, prayer and dialogue between the West and the Mideast.
In the past, Father Santoro received death threats from mafias for his work to help women from Eastern Europe escape from the prostitution trade. But, as Fr. Padovese explained, the Malfia were not the cause of his senseless murder; it was rage over the Danish newspaper cartoons!

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"Muslim Extremists Murder Philippine Christian

JOLO, Philippines, FEB. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Muslim extremists killed six Christians in cold blood six of the small town of Patikul on Sulu Island, in the Sulu Archipelago of the Philippines.
The attackers, suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, a fundamentalist group close to al-Qaida, went door-to-door on Friday asking if the occupants of the house were Muslims or Christians, reported AsiaNews.
If the residents responded that they were Christian, the guerrillas opened fire, according to AsiaNews.
Brigadier General Alexander Aleo, a spokesman for the Philippine military, confirmed the information, stating that among the dead was a 9-month-old girl.
The island's military chief added that in the attack five people were seriously wounded, among them a 3-year-old boy. Abu Sayyaf, formed in 1991, is the most feared guerrilla group of those operating in the southern Philippines.
The Vatican issued the following statement:
Statement on Offending Religious Sentiments
"Coexistence Calls for a Climate of Mutual Respect"

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the issued Saturday by the Vatican press office on reactions to the publication in several Western newspapers of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.
In response to several requests on the Holy See's position vis--vis recent offensive representations of the religious sentiments of individuals and entire communities, the Vatican press office can state:
1. The right to freedom of thought and expression, sanctioned by the Declaration of the Rights of Man, cannot imply the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers. This principle applies obviously for any religion.
2. In addition, coexistence calls for a climate of mutual respect to favor peace among men and nations. Moreover, these forms of exasperated criticism or derision of others manifest a lack of human sensitivity and may constitute in some cases an inadmissible provocation. A reading of history shows that wounds that exist in the life of peoples are not cured this way.
3. However, it must be said immediately that the offenses caused by an individual or an organ of the press cannot be imputed to the public institutions of the corresponding country, whose authorities might and should intervene eventually according to the principles of national legislation. Therefore, violent actions of protest are equally deplorable. Reaction in the face of offense cannot fail the true spirit of all religion. Real or verbal intolerance, no matter where it comes from, as action or reaction, is always a serious threat to peace.
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