Pope Benedict XVI has described yesterday's deadly militant siege of a Catholic cathedral in Baghdad as a "savage" act of "absurd violence".
The Pope urged international and national authorities and all people of good will to work together to end the "heinous episodes of violence that continue to ravage the people of the Middle East".
He said: "In a very grave attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral of Baghdad, dozens of people were killed and injured, among them two priests and a group of faithful gathered for Sunday Mass."
