NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Chaldean Catholic Christians in Mosul mourned the death Paulos Faraj Rahho, an archbishop who was kidnapped Feb. 28 in Mosul. His funeral was held March 14, the day after his body was found in a shallow grave in a neighborhood known for its links to Al Qaeda terrorists.

Rahho's two body guards were shot and killed during the Feb. 28 kidnapping, which occurred as the archbishop was leaving church after celebrating a "Way of the Cross" mass. His abductors forced him into the trunk of a car and Rahho managed to contact church officials with his cell phone, telling them not to pay a ransom for his release, The New York Times reported.

Reaction to the archbishop's death was strong.

"The perpetrators of this horrible crime will not run from the hand of justice," said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who blamed Al Qaeda for the death. Pope Benedict called it "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being."

U.S. President George W. Bush released a statement that read: "I deplore the despicable act of violence committed against the Archbishop of Mosul. We will continue to work with the Iraqi government to protect and support civilians, irrespective of religious affiliation."

Religious liberty advocates, however, criticized the lack of government action to match the promises of freedom and protection.

Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, that Iraq's minority religious communities -- "whose home has been what is now Iraq for many centuries" -- "are literally being obliterated -- not because they are fleeing generalized violence but because they are being specifically and viciously victimized by Islamic extremists and, in some cases, common criminals.

"No policies exist to address their specific needs in Iraq or facilitate their finding refuge abroad," Shea said. "No programs exist to train and support them to police their own villages."

Islamic extremist violence against Iraq's dwindling Christian community has been a serious problem, according to the human rights group Christian Solidarity International. Six people were wounded in January when nine houses of worship were bombed in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk. A priest and two deacons were killed in June 2007 outside the same church Rahho was leaving when he was kidnapped, and a Syrian Orthodox priest was murdered in Iraq in November 2006.

Tens of thousands -- perhaps hundreds of thousands -- of Christians have fled Iraq since U.S.-led Operation Iraqi Freedom deposed Saddam Hussein in March 2003. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reports 40 percent of Iraqi refugees are Christian -- "a staggering number, considering that Christians accounted for only some 4 percent, or 1.5 million, of Iraq's total pre-invasion population," Shea said.

The cause of Rahho's death was not immediately clear. The archbishop, who was 65, had health problems that included high blood pressure and diabetes, but it was reported he had been shot during the kidnapping. Police officials told Reuters news service that he appeared to have been dead a week and had no bullet wounds.

The details of his body's discovery also are uncertain. Mosul police said residents of the neighborhood called them to report seeing the partially buried body in an empty lot, but a Chaldean Church officials told reporters the kidnappers had called and told them Rahho had died and where his body could be found.

The Chaldean church is an autonomous Eastern-rite group that is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes the authority of the pope. The Chaldean Christian community has lived in the region since the second century A.D. It worships in Syriac, a language related to the Aramaic tongue spoken by Jesus.

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