Baghdad (AsiaNews) – Fernando Filoni, apostolic nuncio in Baghdad told AsiaNews that today's attacks against the Bishop's Palace and the Armenian Catholic church are "grave and cowardly acts against defenceless Christian symbols and institutions".

Mgr Filoni said that the Armenian church "was supposed to be inaugurated on Christmas day". The attack against it shows "how little respect terrorists have for people and holy places".

The nuncio points out that the Bishop's Palace in Mosul "had been receiving threats for some time" and "today became reality", proof of the absurdity and premeditation of such acts.

For Mgr Filoni, "the terrorists have no respect for places that are holy". In reference to US action in Falluja, they promised "they would destroy a church for every mosque that was attacked. But all these acts stem from an exasperated violence that especially strikes those who are defenceless".

The nuncio does not believe that there is a link between the escalation and Advent. For him, these "people just want to do harm".

As for the future, he says that there is no way "he can predict if and when other attacks will take place. "These days," he said, "things are not really good". (DS)