Grave and cowardly acts, says papal nuncio

AsiaNews.it, Italy
Dec 7 2004

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – Fernando Filoni, apostolic nuncio in Baghdad
told AsiaNews that today’s attacks against the Bishop’s Palace and
the Armenian Catholic church are “grave and cowardly acts against
defenceless Christian symbols and institutions”.

Mgr Filoni said that the Armenian church “was supposed to be
inaugurated on Christmas day”. The attack against it shows “how little
respect terrorists have for people and holy places”.

The nuncio points out that the Bishop’s Palace in Mosul “had been
receiving threats for some time” and “today became reality”, proof
of the absurdity and premeditation of such acts.

For Mgr Filoni, “the terrorists have no respect for places that are
holy”. In reference to US action in Falluja, they promised “they
would destroy a church for every mosque that was attacked. But all
these acts stem from an exasperated violence that especially strikes
those who are defenceless”.

The nuncio does not believe that there is a link between the escalation
and Advent. For him, these “people just want to do harm”.

As for the future, he says that there is no way “he can predict
if and when other attacks will take place. “These days,” he said,
“things are not really good”. (DS)

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