Chaldean Patriarchate Says Reports on Executed Priest in Mosul Are Unfounded

The Chaldean Patriarchate has denied that a Catholic priest named Boulos Yakoub was recently killed after being detained by jihadists.

In recent days, Chaldean Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona said he "strongly denies recent news stories that report a priest being executed by Islamic State militants in Mosul," reported Fides yesterday.

“There has never been a priest of this name in the Iraqi Church," the archbishop stressed.

Though widespread reports claim the priest was detained by jihadists since last July, the Chaldean archbishop reaffirmed this is false because all Christian priests fled the city when it fell into the hands of jihadists on June 9.

The Chaldean Patriarchate asked media not to circulate these false rumors.

In an interview with Fides in July, Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona criticized "propaganda operations that often, disturbingly, according to the interests, also spread false information about the condition of Christians."