Washington D.C., Feb 26, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Deliberately targeting and destroying religious sites is “reprehensible as it seeks to damage the core of peoples’ culture, belief and community,” said the United States bishops in a statement issued Friday.
Bishop Thomas Wenski, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Policy, wrote the letter on behalf of the bishops in response to the attack last week on the Al Askariya Mosque-the Golden Mosque of Samarra, one of the most sacred religious sites in Shi’a Islam.
“Attacks on holy sites can only add to the insecurity, division and misery of the people of Iraq and risk further violence and destabilization,” the letter reads.
Bishop Wenski wrote that the bishops were “deeply saddened by the horrible attack” and extended their “prayers and condolences to the people of Iraq.”