The face of evil

Pope Benedict's General Prayer Intention for February is:

Mentally Handicapped. That the mentally handicapped may not be marginalized, but respected and lovingly helped.

(An alternative English version is: That people with learning disabilities be loved and respected so that they can live life to the full.)

The urgency of this intention is seen in today's news in The Daily Telegraph and other news sources:

Baghdad market bombers 'mentally impaired'

By Damien McElroy in Baghdad
Last Updated: 3:24am GMT 02/02/2008

Two women with Down's Syndrome were used to deliver remote-controlled bombs to the heart of Baghdad's thriving markets, killing at least 93 people and shattering the Iraqi capital's fragile peace.

Disturbing details of the "brutal and barbaric" attacks emerged last night, with Iraqi officials claiming the women may not have known they were on a suicide mission.

Instead, they may have unwittingly become part of al-Qa'eda's campaign to kill off any semblance of normality in the Iraqi capital. Read the full story here.

This is surely the face of evil. In Irish someone with Down's Syndrome is spoken of as 'duine le Dia', ' a person with God'. If this report is accurate the incident can only be described as diabolical in the full sense of that word.

Related to this is a debate in the House of Lords in London a few days ago (H/T to Fr Tim Finigan, 31 January, 'Life unworthy of life?' with a link to the blog of John Smeaton, Director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).

Hitler's ideology is now respectable.