Memorial mass for archbishop
17/03/2008 16:35  - (SA)  

Pope says 'enough' to violence Kidnappers asked for $1m Chaldean archbishop found dead

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI held a memorial mass on Monday for Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul found dead last week 13 days after being kidnapped.

The pope condemned the "horrific kidnapping which perhaps injured him" as well as the "unworthy resting place in which his corpse was found".

This is the first suggestion from the Vatican that the 65-year-old Rahho might have died of wounds, rather than the fragile state of his health.

Initial reports reaching Rome said that the archbishop's body had no bullet marks.

The pope described the archbishop as a "man of peace and dialogue" and hoped that "his example would give strength and support to all Iraqis of good will, Christians and Muslims, to build a peaceful coexistence".

During his Angelus blessing on Sunday, the Pope issued what he called a heartfelt plea for peace in Iraq. "Stop the slaughter, the violence, the hatred in Iraq," he said.

Rahho was kidnapped on February 29 after a shootout in which three of his companions were killed.

His body was found in a shallow grave near Mosul last Thursday, after a tip-off from his kidnappers.

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