Search
-
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The cause for the canonization of an Eastern Catholic priest and three deacons, who were murdered in Iraq, was given the green light. The Vatican granted permission to open the cause May 14.
Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, his cousin Deacon Basman Yousef Daud, and Deacons Wahid Hanna Isho and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed June 3, 2007, in front of Holy Spirit Chaldean Catholic church in Mosul, where the young priest was pastor. Father Ganni had just finished celebrating Divine Liturgy.
The three deacons had been accompanying Father Ganni because of increasing threats against him by militants. They were reportedly shot after refusing to bow to the demands of the gunmen to convert to Islam.
According to AsiaNews, the gunmen also booby-trapped the clerics’ car with explosives to prevent others from safely recovering the bodies.
The Congregation for Saints’ Causes gave the “nihil obstat” (“no objection”), permitting a diocesan bishop to open a local inquiry into a candidate’s sanctity, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, May 14.
The cause for sainthood will have a U.S. connection. Fides confirmed that the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, headed by Bishop Francis Yohana Kalabat, will handle the process toward canonization because of the difficult conditions facing the church in Mosul.
Father Ganni was born in Mosul in 1972. After earning a degree in civil engineering and performing obligatory military service under the Saddam Hussein regime, he entered seminary in Iraq. From 1996 to 2003, he studied in Rome at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, where he earned a licentiate in ecumenical theology.
During his time in Rome, he resided at the Pontifical Irish College. After his death, in 2010, his likeness was included in a new mosaic installed behind the main altar of the college chapel, created by renowned Jesuit priest and artist Marko Rupnik. Father Ganni was 37 at the time of his murder.
Laura Ieraci contributed to this report.
Caption: The Vatican has given the green light to open the cause for canonization of Father Ragheed Ganni (pictured above) and three deacons, all Eastern Catholics, who were killed in Iraq by Islamic militants in 2007. The cause will be handled in Detroit.
As published in Horizons, May 27, 2018.
Sign up for the e-newsletter.
