Mar 13, 2008 / 09:41 am (CNA).- Archbishop Paulos Rahho, who was kidnapped on February 29, was found dead yesterday near Mosul, according to Bishop Shlemon Warduni. Pope Benedict XVI has once again condemned the kidnapping of the archbishop as “an act of inhuman violence” and expressed his pain at the news of the Iraqi prelate’s death.

“Bishop Rahho is dead. We found him lifeless near Mosul. His abductors had buried him,” Bishop Shlemon Warduni told SIR.

Bishop Warduni, who is the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, related how the Iraqi Church discovered that Archbishop Rahho was dead.

“Yesterday, the abductors had told us that Bishop Rahho was very ill; yesterday afternoon, they told us he had died. This morning, they called us to say they had buried him. Some of our young men followed the directions given by the abductors to reach the place. Here they dug up and found the lifeless bishop. We do not know yet whether he died because of his unstable health or if he has been killed. The abductors only told us he had died”.

Upon finding out about the archbishop’s death, Pope Benedict sent a telegram to Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq.

In his telegram the Pope expresses his closeness "to the Chaldean Church and to the entire Christian community", reaffirming his "condemnation for an act of inhuman violence which offends the dignity of human beings and seriously damages the cause of the fraternal coexistence of the beloved Iraqi people".

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