Benedict also denounced as “Christianophobia” the bombing of two Christians in Baghdad, Iraq, on Dec. 30, the killing of six in Nigerian churches on Christmas Eve, and the injury of six by a bomb at a Catholic church in the Philippines on Christmas.
Benedict encouraged Christians to “persevere in the faith and in the witness of non-violence” in the face of “these strategies of violence, which aim against Christians but have consequences on the entire population.”
Later the same day, according to the Middle East News Agency, the grand imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University criticized Benedict’s remarks as biased. “I disagree with the pope’s view,” said Ahmed al-Tayeb, “and I ask why did the pope not call for the protection of Muslims when they were subjected to killings in Iraq?”
