POPE APPEALS TO IRAQI GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS

UNCLAS VATICAN 000032 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL KIRF IZ VT SUBJECT: POPE APPEALS TO IRAQI GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS ¶1. (U) In a letter made public on February 25 in the semi-official Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI asked Iraqi PM al-Maliki to do "everything possible" to increase security around Christian places of worship during the Eastern-rite Christian Christmas season. The original letter, signed by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was dated January 2. Editorial comment added that the Pope - currently attending the annual spiritual retreat for the Roman Curia - was upset by reports this week of attacks against Christians in the Mosul region, hence the publication of the letter at this time. ¶2. (U) Apart from the appeal to the Iraqi government to protect Christians, Pope Benedict also expressed his sympathy over the deaths and injuries incurred by the bombing of government sites and mosques in Baghdad in late December and January. The letter was prefaced by references to al-Maliki's visit to the Vatican back in 2008 and by the Holy See's insistence at the time that cooperation among ethnic and religious groups was the only way for Iraq's "moral and civil" reconstruction to go forward. The letter also recalled the Pope's call for respect for freedom of worship. ¶3. (U) In what is turning into a full-court-press by the Holy See, the nunciature in Baghdad followed the Pope by issuing a public statement on February 24 decrying the targeting of Christians in Iraq, based solely on their religious beliefs or ethnicity. The statement said Christians have paid a "high price" and that their "indisputable right to full citizenship" is being trampled. The nunciature called for the international community to maintain pressure "so that the violence and discrimination ends immediately." The archbishops of Mosul and Kirkuk made further public statements decrying the violence forcing Christians out of the region. More on the letter and the nuncio's statement is available on Embassy Vatican's Community Blog: http://vatican.state.gov/nea/iraq/. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: It is relatively rare for the Pope to make a direct request to a foreign government, and even rarer for it to be given such prominence. The Vatican's decision to publish the letter some 6 weeks after the fact, plus the statement from the nunciature, show the Holy See's increasing alarm over the ongoing security problems in Iraq in general, and for Christians in particular. End comment. DIAZ