ASIA/IRAQ - Syrian Catholic Bishop of Baghdad: “In our heart we are with Rome”. Iraqi Premier: “A man who sided with the poor”

Baghdad (Fides Service) - Syrian Catholic Bishop Matti Shaba Matoka of Baghdad gave the following statement to Fides: “Geographically we are at some distance from Rome but in our heart and in our prayers we are close. We are sons and daughters of the universal Church, we are part of one family and we embrace our father. Now he is with our saints and with our Saviour Jesus Christ, and with the Blessed Mother of God, whom he loves so dearly. We are all in mourning for the Pope, people continue to come to church to pray and light a candle for the Pope in the Lady Chapel in our Cathedral. On Thursday in St Joseph’s church Catholics of all four Rites in Iraq, Chaldean, Latin, Syrian and Armenian, will attend a Requiem Mass the Pope in the presence of the Papal Nuncio”.
In the meantime the Prime Minister of Iraq Aead Alawi sent messages of sympathy to the Holy See and to the Catholics of Iraq in which he said “the death of Pope John Paul II is a loss for the whole world. He was a man who sided with the poor and the oppressed and he had become a symbol of peace and love”.
(AE) (Agenzia Fides 5/4/2005 righe 25 parole 156)