The horrors continue to multiply in Iraq. Yesterday after Sunday Liturgy a Catholic priest and three subdeacons were assassinated.

Catholic News Service reports:

Father Ganni, the three subdeacons, and the wife of one of thesubdeacons were driving away from the church when their car was blockedby a group of armed militants, according to a report by AsiaNews, aRome-based agency.

The armed men forced the woman out of the car. Once the woman was awayfrom the vehicle the armed men opened fire on Father Ganni and thethree subdeacons, an ordained position lower than a deacon in mostEastern Catholic churches.

The militants then placed explosives around the car to prevent anyone from retrieving the four bodies.

At 10 p.m. local time, authorities finally managed to defuse the explosives and retrieve the bodies.

Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad condemned the killings in a statement released June 4.

"It is a most heinous crime that any person of proper conscience wouldreject. The authors (of this crime) carried out a most horrible actagainst God, against humanity, against their own brothers who werepeace-loving citizens, as well as men of religion who always offeredtheir prayers to God almighty for security and stability in Iraq," hesaid.

This was not the first attack against Chaldean Catholics. In August of2002 a Chaldean Catholic nun was killed in Baghdad. The Church of theHoly Spirit also has been bombed several times in recent months.

In a statement also released to AsiaNews June 4, the Chaldean Synod ofBishops called on "Iraqi leaders and international organizations tointervene to put a concrete end to these criminal acts."

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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