Tomorrow’s meeting of Benedict XVI with American President Bush is meant "to talk about peace, justice and the peaceful living of all men, as well as about respect of religious freedom of minorities such as the Christian minority in Iraq". Those thoughts were expressed by the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, Card. Ignace Moussa Daoud. Yesterday evening, he took part in a mass for the souls of a Chaldean priest, Father Ragheed Ganni, and of his three subdeacons, killed on June 3rd during an attack in Mosul. In an interview with SIR, the prefect stated that the response to the persecution of Iraqi Christians "is forgiving, and asking for peace and justice for everybody". "We are not crying he added, talking about the killing of the Iraqi priest; – the Church is of the martyrs. Under the altars of our churches there are the martyrs’ relics". According to Moussa Daoud, before the violence suffered by the Christians, such as forced conversions, kidnappings, murders, expropriations, desecrated churches or churches changed into mosques, "now, the world is hearing the cry of the Iraqi Christians. The world cannot avoid seeing or hearing what is happening, but maybe it cannot intervene. However, our voice is reaching everyone”.
