Our Patriarch Syriac Catholic of Antioch Ignatius Youssef III YOUNAN, with his patriarchal auxiliary Archbishop Georges Casmoussa, the Archbishop of Baghdad Yousif Abba, Fr. Rami Alkabalan, and Deacon Habib Mrad, patriarchal secretary, had a rushed visit to the Vatican Secretariat of State.

    His Beatitude the Patriarch met with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, head of the Department for Relations with States, to expose the plight of Christians in Mosul and surrounding areas in the Plain of Ninive. He proposed that the Holy See might convene the accredited diplomatic corps, tourge their respective governments taking appropriate measures in order to prevent further killing and abusing of Christians and other minorities in the name of a religion.

    Meanwhile,more bombs continued to fall on civilian districts of Aleppo, the second largest city of neighboring Syria. Syriac Catholic Cathedral, Our Lady of Assumption, in a zone controlled by the Syrian army, was hit in full force, Friday, July 11. Three days later it was the turn of the bishopric which was badly targeted destroying large part of that beautiful building.