Breaking: Kidnapped Iraqi Abp. Rahho has been killed

Reuters breaking news alert:

Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop in Iraq who was kidnapped last month, has been found dead, an Italian Catholic news agency quoted an Iraqi bishop as saying on Thursday.

"Archbishop Rahho is dead. We found his lifeless body near Mosul. The kidnappers had buried him," Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad was quoted as telling SIR, the news agency of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

Rahho was seized on Feb. 29 after gunmen attacked his car in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, killing his driver and two guards.

Initial response from the Vatican:

Pope Benedict is "profoundly moved and saddened" by the death of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop in Iraq who was kidnapped last month, a Vatican spokesman said on Thursday."

All of us had continued to pray and hope for his release, which the Pope had repeatedly urged," Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement shortly after news of the death.

Excerpt from the Holy Father's telegram to Iraqi Catholics:

Pope Benedict on Thursday condemned the death of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop in Iraq as "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being".

The Pope made his comments in a telegram sent to Iraqi Catholic Church leaders after the discovery of the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was abducted last month.

Updating Google news feed.

Zadok: "I've heard that Archbishop Rahho died in captivity due to necessary medication being denied to him."

God rest his soul - and those of his captors.

update:

• Vatican bulletino: "PAIN OF POPE FOR DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP OF MOSSUL"
• CNS: Pope calls death of Iraqi archbishop 'act of inhuman violence'
• CWNews: Kidnapped Iraqi archbishop is dead
• CNN coverage talks mostly about other things happening in Iraq
• AsiaNews is better

update 2: the latest...

• HotAir: "the body .... had gunshot wounds."
• CNS: "Chaldean bishop says U.S. accountable for death of Iraqi archbishop"

[picture 1: AP via BBC.] [picture 2: REUTERS/Osservatore Romano (VATICAN):]

Requiscat In Pace.