Baghdad hostage killings condemned

  • A grieving Iraqi is consoled by friends after the Baghdad hostage killings.

    A grieving Iraqi is consoled by friends after the Baghdad hostage killings.

  • Iraqi Christians carry the coffin of a relative killed at the Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad. Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

    Iraqi Christians carry the coffin of a relative killed at the Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad. Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

A grieving Iraqi is consoled by friends after the Baghdad hostage killings.
Iraqi Christians carry the coffin of a relative killed at the Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad. Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

The World Council of Churches' general secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, has joined Pope Benedict XVI and other religious leaders in condemning the "criminal act of terror" in Baghdad when gunmen took hostages in a city church, resulting in the deaths of nearly 60 people.

"The World Council of Churches strongly condemns the criminal act of terror that took place on Sunday in the Sayyidat al-Najat Church in Baghdad and expresses its deep sympathy and solidarity with those who lost their loved ones and prays for a speedy recovery for the injured," said Mr Tveit in a 1 November statement. 

Earlier, in an address to mark All Saints Day, the Pope told pilgrims in St Peter's Square, "I pray for the victims of this absurd violence, all the more ferocious in that it struck defenceless people united in the house of God, which is a place of love and reconciliation."

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