Pope urges Bush to help Iraq's Christians

BY ANABEL INGE
POPE BENEDICT XVI has put the issue of the exodus of thousands of Iraqi Christians directly to American President George W Bush in their first face-to-face meeting.
In talks at the Vatican, the Pontiff spoke to Mr Bush of his concerns about the safety of Iraq's Christians, who have been fleeing persecution and violence in their hundreds of thousands since the Amencan-ted invasion four years ago.
According to the Vatican. the pair's 35-minute private audience was characterised by "cordial discussions" that concentrated, in part. on the "worrisome situation in Iraq and the critical conditions in which the Christian community finds itself'.
Benedict XVI told the President that he would like a "regional and negotiated" solution to Middle Eastern conflicts, including that in Iraq, said a Vatican spokesman.
Other topics of conversation included problems in the Middle East—such as those related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and developments in Lebanon— and in Africa, focusing, above all, on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
In addition, the pair examined "current moral and religious questions, including those related to human rights and religious freedom, the defence and promotion of life, marriage and the family, education of new generations and sustainable development", said a Vatican spokesman.
The pair also exchanged gifts, as is traditional. Mr Bush gave the Pope a "Moses" walking stick inscribed with the Ten Commandments, made by a former homeless man in Dallas. Benedict XVI gave the President an engraving of St Peter's Basilica and a gold medallion of his pontificate. Mr Bush and several top aides later met Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, and other Vatican foreign policy officials.
In comments to reporters after the meeting. the American president noted that the Pope was "deeply concerned" about the plight of Iraqi Christians and "worrisome about the Christians inside Iraq being mistreated by the Muslim majority". He also said, in a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Romani Procli: "I assured (the Pope) we were working hard to make sure" Iraqis would respect that modern constitution voted on by the people that would honour people from different walks of life and different attitudes".
Since 2003 it is estimated that half of Iraq's 1.2 million Christian population has fled the country and in Basra the situation is so desperate that 80 per cent of Christians have fled, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The group makes up just four per cent of Iraq's total population but has lived there since the first century. Most are Chaldean Catholics.
The Pope expressed his concern at the alarming number of refugees during his Easter message, in which he said that "nothing positive" was coming out of the country, and recently sent a telegram to Chaldean bishops the day after one of their priests and three deacons were gunned down after celebrating Mass in Mosul, paying tribute to the men's "costly sacrifice". The funeral service for the four men took place last week in Fr Ganrii's hometown of Karamless.
A Chaldean Catholic priest based in London told ACN that "people were crying during the funeral service, and for a while the bishop could not continue speaking".
In a further sign of the seriousness with which the Holy See regards the plight of Iraq's Christians the Vatican released a statement as the audience between the Pontiff and Mr Bush ended in which Archbishop Leonardo Sandri drew attention to the suffering endured by many Eastern-rite Catholics in countries such as Iraq and Lebanon.
This suffering, said the archbishop, who is the newly appointed prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. is at the hands of "war, violence or fear of an uncertain future".
He added: "I think also of those who must leave their homeland and everything they own."