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During
our pastoral visit to the United States of America for the Installation
of the Most Reverend Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros as the 4th Eparch of
Newton for the Melkite Greek Catholics in the United States, we learned
from the news media that five churches in Baghdad and Mossul have been
bombed, killing and wounding innocent people who were praying in these
Sacred Houses of God for peace in the world.
We offer to the Almighty God our fervent prayers for the deceased and
the wounded victims, as well as for every soul in distress in the
cherished
land
of
Iraq
.
We have no doubt that the perpetrators of these crimes aim at hurting
all Iraqis of all religious denominations.
Only impious people without any sense of morality are able to
commit such cruelties.
We
appeal to our Iraqi brothers to stand together in defense of their
national unity. It is their
only safeguard against the plots that aim at destroying
Iraq
’s integrity, security, and
independence. These misdeeds
are also meant to thwart the efforts that are being exerted to secure a
better standard of living for the Iraqis and the inhabitants of the
whole
Middle East
.
(signed) Gregorios
III
Patriarch of
Antioch
and All the East
Of
Alexandria
and of
Jerusalem
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