Iraq cardinal: Christians not singled out for attack

|PIC1|The spiritual leader of Iraq's Catholics said on Tuesday that a recent wave of bomb attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul was aimed at showing Iraq was not at peace rather than singling out Christians for persecution.

"This act was not specifically against Christians. The aim was to convince the world that so far there is no peace and security in Iraq," said Emmanuel III Delly, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, adding that he forgave the perpetrators.

Delly, 80, became the first Chaldean Catholic to be made a cardinal last November in a sign of Vatican solidarity with Iraq's Christians, who make up about 3 percent of the country's 27 million, mostly Muslim, population.

A number of Christian clerics have been kidnapped or killed in Iraq, churches bombed or forced to take down their crosses, and Christians forced to flee their homes.

In a single hour on Sunday attackers bombed two churches, a convent and a church-run orphanage in the northern city of Mosul and three churches and a convent in Baghdad, Delly told Reuters in an interview at his guarded compound in western Baghdad.

"From my heart I forgive those who did this repulsive act. We do not have enemies. If they think we are their enemies, we are not. We love everybody," Delly said.

The cardinal held Sunday mass in one of the Baghdad churches just two hours before it was bombed. He said the Baghdad churches suffered material damage but no one was injured as the buildings were empty at the time.

Police said four people were injured in one of the Mosul attacks. The attacks occured on Epiphany, an important holiday for Christians in Iraq.

Delly said Coptic and Orthodox churches were attacked as well as Chaldean ones. Chaldeans, a branch of the Roman Catholic church that practises an ancient Eastern rite, are the biggest Christian community in Iraq.

"I do not know who did it, but I think they regret it, because it is against God and against mankind.

"Whoever did this definitely does not love Iraq and does not love his brothers as he should do. God willing, he will change his mind and he will work in rebuilding Iraq and work for brotherhood and love among all sects," he said.

Delly, who opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, criticised the Shi'ite Islamist-led Iraqi government last May for failing to stop the persecution of Christians, but has sounded more conciliatory in recent media interviews.