Source: SIR
Forty children from the Chaldean community of Iraqi refugees will receive their First Holy Communion from the hands of Benedict XVI on Sunday 10 May during the Mass at Amman Stadium. The news is released to the SIR by Mgr. Raymond Moussalli, patriarchal vicar of the Chaldeans in Jordan. “Jordanian children will also be with them. Their desire is to pray with the Pope for the gift of peace and reconciliation in Iraq,” added the priest in charge of receiving Iraqi refugees in the Hascemite Kingdom. “It will be an important moment for our faithful, not only in Jordan, but also in Iraq. Everyone is expecting words of consolations and support from the Holy Father. They wish to see him in Iraq, but we do not know if and when this will be possible.” “There is great expectation among Iraqi refugees in Jordan,” said Moussalli “and today a group of Iraqi intellectuals, scholars and professors, from Christian and Muslim origin, who are living in Jordan sent a letter to Benedict XVI asking him to turn his eyes to the sufferings endured by the Iraqi church and its people. They called upon him to prevent Christians from fleeing the country. The letter was delivered to the Nuncio.” In the meanwhile, card. Emmanuel III Delly, Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, and his vicar, Mgr. Shlemon Warduni, have both arrived in Amman to meet Benedict XVI.