Letter to Chaldean Partriarch Delly on Church Bombings in Iraq, August 6, 2013

August 6, 2004

His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly
Chaldean Patriarch
P.O. Box 35130
Hay Al-Wahda
Mahallat 904
Rue 8 Imm. 44
12906 Baghdad, Iraq

Your Beatitude,

It was with great sadness that we learned of the bombing of churches in Baghdad and Mosul last Sunday evening. Our prayers are with the deceased, the surviving victims and their families.

We are enormously sorry that after so many years of suffering that the Iraqi people, Christians and Muslims, are forced to suffer this way. We pray that God will soon deliver you all from the scourge of terrorism, and following your request, we pray too for those who undertake such hateful acts.

Of course, the bombings also provoke anxiety over the future of religious liberty and for the security of Iraq's Christians as political conditions evolve. We hope that the traditional amity between Muslims and Christians will prevail. Even as the leaders of your country work to assure religious freedom and security for all, be assured of our solidarity with you, the Church and all Iraqis of good will.

With prayerful wishes, I am

Fraternally yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory
Bishop of Belleville
President