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[[File:Father_Ragheed_Gani_2015-10-16_03-00.jpg|thumbnail|Father Ragheed Gani]]
'''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]], He served 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)Chaldeans|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]], in Mosul during the [[Archbishop]] worst period 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 modern history of Mosulcivil wars.
==Biography==
[[File:Father_Ragheed_Gani_2015-10-16_03-00.jpg|thumbnail|Father Ragheed Gani]]
Ragheed Aziz Ganni was born on January 20, 1972 in the predominantly Christian city of [[Mosul]], Iraq.
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>
==A Chaldean Martyr==
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>
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.
==See also==
