Assyrian priest killed in Baghdad

Father Adel Youssef, an Assyrian Orthoodox priest, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad’s Karrada district last week, BBC News reported on April 5.

Fr. Youssef’s death comes in the wake of other attacks on Iraqi Christians. Last month, Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was abducted after serving mass. His body was found buried in a shallow grave two weeks later, having died from poor health during the incident.

Since the 2003 invasion, many Christians have Iraq for fear of the Islamic militants who target them. Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, head of the Chaldean Catholics, said, “We are praying and asking God for security in Iraq,” adding, “What can we do? How many people have been killed? Christians, Muslims, Sabaens, people who have dedicated themselves to serving this country but they are killed.”

Cardinal Delly also said that the church is “ready to forgive the people who committed these crimes for the sake of the single family of Iraq.”

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