Pope Condemns the Diabolic Attack on Christian Missionaries by Muslims in Yemen

Sisters of Charity (Photo Source: First Things)

We are living in a world that is full of hatred from Muslim faiths.  A world where Christians are being targeted by Muslims as a fair game yet their death stirs no condemnation from world leaders; no outcry from mainstream media. These missionaries' only sin was simply because they're Christians. Their death will not be in vain. The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of faith.  Saints and Martyrs of the Church, pray for us! -CD2000

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis was “shocked and profoundly saddened” by the murder of four Missionaries of Charity and twelve other people at a home for the elderly in Aden, Yemen.

Gunmen entered the building on Friday and went room-to-room, handcuffing victims before shooting them in the head.

A message signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Holy Father “sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence.”

The message said Pope Francis “prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue.”

It concludes with a strong appeal for an end to the ongoing violence in Yemen.

“In the name of God, he calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the Sisters and their helpers sought to serve” – the message reads – “Upon everyone suffering from this violence, the Holy Father invokes God’s blessing, and in a special ways he extends to the Missionaries of Charity his prayerful sympathy and solidarity.”

The full text of the message is below

His Holiness Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of the killing of four Missionaries of Charity and twelve others at a home for the elderly in Aden. He sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence. He prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue. In the name of God, he calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the Sisters and their helpers sought to serve. Upon everyone suffering from this violence, the Holy Father invokes God’s blessing, and in a special ways he extends to the Missionaries of Charity his prayerful sympathy and solidarity.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State

The persecution of Christians in the ‘Muslim world’

ChristiansOfIraq and WorldMag

Dec. 15, 2010

The New York Times this week ran a front-page article on Christian persecution in Iraq, noting, “A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to northern Iraq or abroad amid a campaign of violence against them and growing fear that the country’s security forces are unable or, more ominously, unwilling to protect them.” The Times goes on to inform us that “more than half of Iraq’s Christian community, estimated to number 800,000 to 1.4 million before the American-led invasion in 2003, have already left the country.”

What is the Obama administration doing to put pressure on the al-Maliki government in Baghdad to stop these murders of Christians? We have heard endlessly of this administration’s “outreach to the Muslim world.” That term—“Muslim world”—may itself be part of the problem. By telling Shia and Sunni Muslims that the Middle East is their world, are we not saying that Middle Eastern Christians and Jews don’t belong there?

The Christian community in Iraq has been there since the beginnings of the Church. Bible readers will recognize Nineveh Province, one of the regions in modern-day Iraq. Didn’t some biblical character named Jonah have a rendezvous with destiny there? The Chaldean Assyrian Christians—note their Bible name—speak Aramaic, which is the language scholars tell us Jesus spoke. Yet these people, too, are being driven away.

To Our Arab Christian Citizens by Mshari Al-Zaydi

Thanks to Mr. Mshari for this wonderful and very balance opinion from an Arab journalist who sympathizes with the growing plight of Iraqi Christians who were terrorized in Baghdad in October 31, 2010 while peacefully praying in a Catholic Church. While he sympathize with Arab Christians, he also hopes for a better way of supporting and bringing the issue of Arab Christians into the consciousness of every Arab by usign the media within the Arab world. God bless you Mr. Mshari Al-Zaydi.

By Mshari Al-Zaydi
Source: aawsat.com

The bloody assault on Baghdad's Church of Our Lady of Salvation has opened the door to a bigger question about the fate of Christian citizens in Middle Eastern countries, and the future of their presence there. Furthermore, it has exposed an Arab and Islamic wound, and we must get to the source of this crisis.

It would be a shame to see the land that witnessed the birth and life of Jesus Christ, and the spreading of his teachings, became devoid of followers of the Christian faith.



Mshari Al-Zaydi



For many centuries Christians lived in the Middle East without fearing for their lives, and it is a shame that they feel under threat today and that the Christian exodus from the Middle East has become such a serious issue.

It is distressing for the people of this region to acknowledge the words of Jesuit scholar Father Samir Khalil Samir, who is an Egyptian Catholic based in Beirut who recently presented a paper to the Vatican's Synod for the Middle East. Regarding the current crisis that Christians in the Middle East are facing, Father Samir Khalil Samir said "If this phenomenon continues, Christianity in the Middle East will disappear" according to Reuters and other news agencies. He added "the emigration of Christians from Iraq since 2003 may ultimately lead to their complete disappearance from the country."