Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop who was kidnapped in Iraq last month, has been found dead, Church officials in Rome and Baghdad said today.
It was not clear if he died as a result of ill-health or if he was killed, Church officials added.
SIR, the news agency of the Italian Bishops Conference quoted Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad as saying the kidnappers had told Iraqi church officials yesterday that Rahho was very ill and, later that day, that he was dead.
But police in Baghdad said the body appeared to have been dead for at least a week and had started to decompose. They said there were no bullet wounds and were checking how he died.
Dr Rahho (65) was kidnapped on February 29th after gunmen attacked his car in eastern Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, killing his driver and two guards.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed his death on al-Qaeda and stressed that his Shia-led government was committed to protecting Christians, who make up about three per cent of the population in mostly Muslim Iraq.
"The perpetrators of this horrible crime will not run from the hand of justice," Mr Maliki said.
Pope Benedict was immediately informed and was "profoundly moved and saddened," the Vatican said. The Pope, in a telegram to Iraqi church leaders, condemned it as "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being".
The Iraqi ambassador to the Vatican said it was "a sad day for all Iraqis regardless of their religion" and that the kidnappers were murderers whether they had killed him or not.
US and Iraqi security forces had launched a major manhunt to find Dr Rahho, but the commander of US forces in northern Iraq, Major-General Mark Hertling, admitted earlier this month that he was not confident he would be freed alive.
He said he believed the cleric was being held for money, although no ransom demand was known to have been made.
Chaldeans belong to a branch of the Roman Catholic Church that practices an ancient Eastern rite and form the biggest Christian community in Iraq.