Vatican City, Dec 3, 2010 / 12:07 pm
Pope Benedict XVI met with Iraqi Christians injured during the Oct. 31 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad.
The 26 Iraqi Christians, led by Father Giorgio Jahola, attended the Pope’s Wednesday General Audience Dec. 1. The group spoke later spoke with the Pontiff and met with Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the substitute for the General Affairs of the Secretariat of State and former papal nuncio to Iraq.
A one-year-old girl who lost her father and her three-year-old brother in the attack, as well as seven students attacked on their way to university classes, were among the group of Iraqis.
All 26 were able to make the trip to Rome with assistance from the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Vatican. The survivors of the attack—three children, 16 women and seven men—received medical treatment at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.