MOSUL, Iraq, OCT. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- In the wake of the kidnapping of two priests from his archdiocese, Archbishop Basilios Georges Casmoussa called on Christians around the world to put pressure on political leaders.
Syrian Catholic Archbishop Casmoussa of Mosul, said that international political leaders need to show some humanity toward those people whom they have "abandoned to the altars of their political and economic interests."
"We are not mere puppets, nor are we simply firewood to be thrown on to the bonfire," the archbishop told the charity Aid to the Church in Need.
The efforts by Iraqi Christians for the survival of their people in the "country of their fathers" are not merely for the sake of their own immediate survival but are also a means of improving the living conditions of the Iraqi people generally, he added.
Archbishop Casmoussa, 68, appealed for redoubled prayers for the Christians in Iraq and for greater solidarity with them, while also requesting prayers for Father Mazen Ishoa and Father Pius Afas, missing since Saturday.
Father Ishoa was just ordained Sept. 1, and Father Afas was preparing to take on the running of the Center for Biblical Studies in Mosul along with Archbishop Casmoussa.
ZE07101604 - 2007-10-16