Filipino bishops on killing of Christians: It's genocide

Extremists ‘are determined to decimate Christian populations,’ Filipino bishops say after the murder of 4 of Mother Teresa’s sisters

MOTHER TERESA'S SISTERS. Nuns pray in front of Mother Teresa's tomb in Calcutta, India, on December 18, 2015. Months later, 4 of their sisters from the Missionaries of Charity die in an attack on an elderly home in Yemen. Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA

MANILA, Philippines – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged governments around the world to denounce the “genocide” of Christians after gunmen recently murdered 4 nuns from Mother Teresa’s religious community.

In a statement on Friday, March 11, CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said governments should “agree on the characterization of the attacks on Christians by extremists as ‘genocide.’”

“The assault on Christians is born out of hatred for their religion and is by no means sporadic and isolated,” Villegas said in a statement on behalf of the CBCP.

In apparent reference to the Middle East, he explained, “More than enough Christian blood has been shed in this troubled part of the world to make it clear that the assailants are determined to decimate Christian populations and to make living conditions next to impossible, if not impossible for them.”

“By all recognized standards of international law, this is genocide, and should be dealt with the governments of the world as genocide,” the archbishop said.

At the same time, the CBCP said they mourn the death of the 4 sisters from the Missionaries of Charity, a religious community founded by Mother Teresa in October 1950 to serve the poorest of the poor.

CBCP: 'Profound regret at this outrage'

The 4 sisters of the Missionaries of Charity – Anselm of India, Margherite and Reginette of Rwanda, and Judith of Kenya – died on March 4 after 4 gunmen stormed a home for the elderly in Aden, Yemen.

Reports said the gunmen killed 12 others.

The attack is attributed to terrorists either from Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS, IS, ISIL, or Da'esch), the Catholic News Agency said.

“With the rest of the world, we express our profound regret at this outrage,” Villegas said.

The CBCP president pointed out that the sisters died “defenseless.”

“They were serving God’s people," he said.

The bishops then urged Filipino Catholics to pray for the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, and “also to invoke their own prayerful intercession.”

After all, they said, the Catholic faith “teaches us that those who lay down their lives for the faith immediately share in the reward of the just.”

Pope Francis earlier slammed this “diabolical” attack in Yemen.

Francis “prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said.

Parolin added that the Pope “calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the sisters and their helpers sought to serve.”– with a report from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com