Papal envoy: refugees in Iraq must be protected
September 16, 2014
Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who recently visited Iraq as a special papal envoy, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Christians and Yezidis need help to stop the aggression of the Islamic State. But the cardinal said that the intervention he had in mind would not properly be described as a war.
Noting that Pope Francis has often spoken out against warfare, Cardinal Filoni said: “But we are not talking now about war; we are talking about something different.” He explained:
Somebody-– a group of terrorists, which are well-equipped, with money, with people, with ideological minds-– they attacked people who no one of them had any arms to defend themselves.
Ordinarily the Iraqi government would bear the responsibility for stopping this violence, the cardinal said. “But if they are not in this position, they cannot defend themselves, someone else has to take also this duty, at least until the local government is ready to retake its duty.”
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Further information:
- Likening ISIS to the Devil, Cardinal makes case for ‘moral’ protection of civilians (CNN)
- Cardinal Filoni: Iraqi people must be defended (Vatican Radio)
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