View source for Ragheed Ganni

{{Orphan|date=May 2015}}

'''Ragheed Aziz Ganni''' (20 January 1972, [[Mosul]], [[Iraq]] – 3 June 2007, Mosul) was a [[Chaldean Catholic Church|Chaldean]] [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Catholic]] priest.  On June 3, 2007, [[Trinity Sunday]], the Sunday after [[Pentecost]], he was killed along with three subdeacons including his cousin Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed in front of Mosul's [[Holy Spirit]] Chaldean Church where he was parish priest.  Fr. Ragheed had just finished celebrating the Sunday evening [[Divine Liturgy]] ([[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]).<ref>http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9442  Accessed September 5, 2012</ref>  The three deacons had recently decided to accompany Fr. Ragheed because of threats against his life.  After Mass as he was walking away from the church with Daud and  as Isho, Bidawed, and Isho's wife followed by car, the group was stopped by unknown armed men. One of the gunmen shouted at Fr. Ragheed that he had warned him to close the church and demanded to know why he didn't do it. Fr Ragheed replied asking "How can I close the house of God?"  The gunmen ordered the woman to flee.  Then after the gunmen demanded that the four men convert to Islam and they refused they were shot down.<ref>http://www.aina.org/news/20090603124803.pdf  Accessed 9-6-2012</ref>  The car was then set with explosives to deter interference and so that the bodies would remain abandoned.  Several hours passed until a police bomb-squad defused the devices allowing corpses to be recovered.<ref>http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-Chaldean-Church-mourns-Fr.-Ragheed-Ganni-and-his-martyrs-9443.html  Accessed September 5, 2012; http://www.chaldean.org/CommunityPages/ChaldeanChurches/MotherofGodChurchMIUSA/tabid/113/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/146/Will-The-World-Continue-to-Remain-Indifferent-as-Chaldeans-Are-Massacred.aspx  Accessed September 5, 2012</ref>

Thousands of people attended the funeral of the four men in Karemlash, Iraq on June 4, 2007.  Father Ganni was secretary to [[Paulos Faraj Rahho]], the [[Archbishop]] of Mosul of the Chaldean Church, Iraq's largest Christian community. Rahho was murdered only nine months after Ganni's death, in the same city of Mosul.

==Biography==
Ragheed Aziz Ganni was born on January 20, 1972 in the predominantly Christian city of [[Mosul]], Iraq.

After completing a degree in Civil Engineering at Mosul University in 1996 and after performing obligatory military service under the [[Saddam Hussein]] regime<ref>http://angelicumnewsletterblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/iv-anniversario-dell-deliv-anniversary.html
  Accessed 9-12-2012</ref> Ganni entered the seminary in Iraq.  In 1996 Ganni's bishop sent him to [[Rome]] for further study.  Ganni is an [[List of people associated with the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas|alumnus]] of the [[Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)|Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas ''Angelicum'']] where he completed a licentiate in ecumenical theology in 2003.  He was ordained a priest in [[Rome]] on October 13, 2001 at the [[Pontifical Urbaniana University]].

During his study in Rome he resided at the [[Pontifical Irish College]] where he played soccer for the College.  The annual showcase 5-a-side tournament played in May between the Scots, English, Beda and Irish Colleges has been named the "Ragheed Cup" in his honor.<ref>http://www.scotscollege.org/the-scots-college-magazine/summer,-mmx/it's-not-the-winning-that-counts.aspx  Accessed 9-12-2012</ref>

Fr Ganni celebrated his first Mass in Chapel at the Irish College.  Today Fr. Ragheed is one of the nine figures represented in the apse of that chapel where the relics of St. [[Oliver Plunkett]] rest in the altar there wrapped in the priestly stole of Fr. Ragheed.<ref>http://www.irishcollege.org/college-chapel/dedication-chapel/  Accessed September 5, 2012</ref> Fr. Ragheed regularly offered mass for the [[Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas]] which was at the time housed on the grounds of the Irish College.

Fluent in Arabic, Italian, French, and English, Fr. Ragheed served as a correspondent for the international agency “Asia News” of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.<ref>http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/145921?eng=y  Accessed September 5, 2012</ref>

Fr. Ragheed was finishing his degree in Rome when the Iraq war broke out.  Fr. Ragheed had received permission from his bishop to return to the ''Angelicum'' in Rome to work on a doctorate in ecumenism.  In a prewar interview he expressed his opposition to the invasion of Iraqi fearing that Iraqi Christians would be targeted and persecuted.  He looked forward to returning to his native land to serve the Church and people there.  He did so after [[Saddam Hussein]] was ousted from power in 2003.<ref>http://www.fides.org/eng/documents/dossier_missionari_ucisi_2007.doc</ref>

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone telegrammed  Fr. Ragheed’s bishop on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI saying that "Ragheed’s sacrifice will inspire in the hearts of all men and women of good will a renewed resolve to reject the ways of hatred and violence, to conquer evil with good and to cooperate in hastening the dawn of reconciliation, justice and peace in Iraq." <ref>http://www.insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2008/newsflash-jan20-08.htm  Accessed August 4, 2012</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Iraq}}

*[[Chaldean Catholic Church]]
*[[Church of the East]]
*[[Chaldean martyrs]]
*[[Persecution of Christians]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*[http://www.fides.org/eng/documents/dossier_missionari_ucisi_2007.doc FIDES Catholic News Service]

==External links==
*[http://www.mcpriests.com/10_fr_ragheed2.htm Letter to Fr. Ragheed from a Muslim Friend]
*[http://www.irishcollege.org/ragheedRip.htm Remembrance page at Pontifical Irish College]
*[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2655894.ece Obituary in the Independent]

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME              = Ganni, Ragheed
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Martyred Iraqi priest
| DATE OF BIRTH     = 20 January 1972
| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
| DATE OF DEATH     = 3 June 2007
| PLACE OF DEATH    =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganni, Ragheed}}
[[Category:1972 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:Iraqi Assyrian people]]
[[Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Iraqi priests]]
[[Category:Chaldean Catholics]]
[[Category:People from Mosul]]
[[Category:Religious persecution]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Pontifical Irish College]]
[[Category:21st-century Roman Catholic martyrs]]
[[Category:Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas alumni]]