At the end of Holy Mass of Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, at noon, His Holiness delivered him Angelus message. This week it included a very strong appeal for peace in Iraq, following on the death of the Archbishop of Mossul of the Chaldeans, Paulos Farah Rahho.
Here is the section of his comments on Iraq. My emphases indicates the part he quite literally shouted, though they were part of the prepared text:
At the end of this solemn celebration, in which we have meditated on the Passion of Christ, I want to call to mind the late lamented Archbishop of Mossul of the Chaldeans, Paulos Farah Rahho, tragically deceased a few days ago. His beautiful witness of faith in Christ, the Church and his people, which despite many threats he never wanted to abandon, presses me to raise a strong and concerned cry: enough of these massacres, enough with the violence, enough with hatred in Iraq! And I raise at the same time an appeal to the people of Iraq, which for five years is bearing the consequenzes of a war which has provoked the upheaval of civil and social life: beloved Iraqi people, raise up your heads and let you be, in the first place, riconstructors of your national life. Let there be reconciliations, forgiveness, justice and respect in common life betweem tribes, ethnic and religious groups, the solid way of peace in the name of God.
