Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect for the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, will preside the Eucharistic Celebration for the Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mossul, one month after his death. The Holy Mass will be celebrated at the Chair of Saint Peter, at 9am. The Archbishop was kidnapped on February 29, in Iraq, immediately following a celebration of Stations of the Cross, in a bloody incident that cost the lives of three men who accompanied him. The lifeless corpse of the Archbishop was later found on March 13. A statement from the Congregation for Oriental Churches encourages the faithful to participate in the mass, in which “the prayer for the eternal repose of the soul of the deceased Pastor and all victims of the Iraqi war will also be accompanied by a fervent invocation to the Lord, asking that He grant us peace soon, in special remembrance of the Christians in Iraq, the Holy Land, and other parts of the world, who suffer for their faith.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 10/4/2008; righe 13, parole 170)
