Pope Still Fretting About Christians Fleeing Iraq - Oh, my goodness

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=29459

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict says he's deeply concerned that Christians are fleeing Iraq to escape "insecurity, aggression and a sense of abandonment."

At a Vatican audience with the patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Benedict said many Iraqi Christians believe their only hope is to seek a new life abroad. snip

Christians make up just three percent of Iraq's 26 million people.

[AndreaCG]

1. He should have been so worried about priests fleeing altar boys' asses!

[spoony]

4. What a painfully awkward attempt at humour.

[madrchsod]

2. maybe the pope should have told bush

he was responsible for this .since george is a christian man he should accept responsibility and welcome these christians to the christian nation of the united states of america-one nation under GOD with life and liberty for all

[Perky]

3. Oh please

If Sunnis are turning on Shia and killing on religious grounds and vice-verse why would you think for a second that concern on the part of Christians was not valid? To the extent that radical Islamists have it out for Christians or proselytzing the concern is palpable.

3% of 26 million is 720,000 human beings.


Are you not as concerned for their safety as you are for the the other 25 million?

[NNN0LHI]

6. 80% of all attacks in Iraq are against US soldiers

I don't fall for the huge Sunnis/Shia divide some are making hay about.

Why doesn't the Pope just condemn the entire illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq and be done with it instead of playing footsie with the head war criminal Bush at the vatican?

Don

[Posteritatis]

9. 20% of a shitload is still 0.2 shitloads

And that percentage figure doesn't take into account civilians who are caught underfoot, targetted along with US soldiers, or otherwise considered acceptable collateral.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Problem is the other 20% is dubious

Google "iraq+wearing police uniforms" and/or "iraq+wearing army uniforms" once and you will see what I mean.

Don

[Vogon_Glory]

5. Well, SOMEONE Should!

Well, SOMEBODY ought to speak up for religious minorities being persecuted and killed by the sectarian gunmen and thugs in Iraq. Whatever most of us think of the decision to invade Iraq, whatever most of us may think about the people who ordered that invasion, whatever we may think about the consequences of that invasion, SOMEONE ought to be speaking out in favor of religious toleration and against the ugly sectarian killing that is going on in Iraq right now.

I opposed the invasion of Iraq. I thought it was incredibly stupid (And that is an understatement) and would have hideous consequences, among them being more death, destruction, despair, and anguish than even Saddam Hussein's brutal, murderous dictatorship had left.

Having said that, I am singularly unimpressed with how present-day Arabs deal with minority religions in their midst. To use Nazi lingo, many countries like Yemen and Algeria are Juden-frei. Others, like Syria, are going the same way if they haven't gotten there already. Christians are also getting the same short shrift, including sects like the Assyrian Church that have had minimal ties to the British imperialists.

So we're supposed to applaud the swaggering, gun-waving Sunni and Shi'ia bullyboys and the hateful old men who formulate the ideologies that perpetuate religious killing?

I sure as @#$%&*@!!!! don't think so.

[Perky]

7. Can I be your friend?

Loved what you said.

[Posteritatis]

8. Ding ding ding ding ding!

What you said in its entirety.

My sympathy towards anyone caught underfoot in that fiasco is completely independent of how large their demographic is. And irreligious as I am, I still refuse to fault the Pope of all the people for worrying about the Christian population of a country, no matter how large or small it is - especially if, as in Iraq, they actually are in nasty straits.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Would you welcome all those Iraqi Christians into America?

I would. After destroying their country it is the least we should do.

Why doesn't the Pope suggest that I wonder?

Don

[Vogon_Glory]

11. Yes, I would welcome them into America

Yes, I would welcome those Iraqi Christians into America. Many of America's earliest immigrants were religious refugees fleeing persecution.

[NNN0LHI]

13. The United States admitted 68 Iraqi refugees in the six months through March

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-29-iraqi-refugees_N.htm

Few Iraqi refugees allowed into U.S.

WASHINGTON — The United States admitted 68 Iraqi refugees in the six months through March, a tiny percentage of those fleeing their homes because of the war, State Department figures show.

The United States has been unable to accept more Iraqis in part because of the time needed for background checks, which have become more stringent since 9/11, Ellen Sauerbrey, assistant secretary of State, told USA TODAY.

About 50,000 Iraqis leave their country every month, and 2 million have fled Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to the United Nations. Most have settled in neighboring Syria and Jordan. The influx has stretched health care and other social services there.

[Perky]

14. Undoubtedly has something to do with .....

Go ye into all the world.....

[Nikki Stone1]

15. Is he worried that they're not following the 10 commandments of driving he issued this week?

An unusual document from the Vatican's office for migrants and itinerant people also warned that cars can be "an occasion of sin" — particularly when they are used for dangerous passing or for prostitution.

It warned about the effects of road rage, saying driving can bring out "primitive" behavior in motorists, including "impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code."

It urged motorists to obey traffic regulations, drive with a moral sense, and to pray when behind the wheel.


The "Drivers' Ten Commandments," as listed by the document, are:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.