Benedict XVI Fed Up With the Hatred and Violence in Iraq

In an unusual posting today by Rocco Palmo detailing the newest—and only—Christian Church in Qatar, we hear the cry of a distressed Pope Benedict XVI.

After praising the "beautiful witness" of Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, whose body was discovered Thursday after having been abducted by local militants, the pontiff took up his "loud and anguished" cry, saying "Enough with the massacres, enough with the violence, enough with hatred in Iraq!" Noting Wednesday's fifth anniversary of the first strikes on Baghdad, Benedict called on "the Iraqi people, who for five years have been bearing the consequences of war that has provoked the disintegration of its civil and social life: dear Iraqi people, lift up your heads and be yourselves, in the first place, the rebuilders of your national life!"