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>
[[File:Ragheed Ganni -DA PRETE.jpg|thumb|Father Ragheed Ganni]]
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>
[[File:Ragheed ganni with Pope.jpg|right|Father Ragheed Ganni]]
[[File:Ragheed Ganni Chaldean Mass Chennai India 2015.jpg|thumb|Father Ragheed Ganni Remembrance Mass in Chennai India by Christians of India, October 2015]]
[[File:Ragheed Ganni -DA PRETE.jpg|left|thumb|Father Ragheed Ganni]]
On June 3, 2007, [[Trinity Sunday]], the Sunday after [[Pentecost]], Father Ragheed Ganni was martyred 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>
[[Category:1972 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:Iraqi Assyrian Chaldean people]]
[[Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Iraqi priests]]