Career
Casmoussa was transferred to the Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Curia. He was, according to Vatican records, born in Qaraqosh, Iraq. The Syriac Catholic Archeparchy of Mosul has 35,000 Syriac Catholics, 36 priests, and 55 religious.
Casmoussa was ordained as a priest in June 1962 and worked for three decades as the editor of Christian Source and was active in the International Union of the Catholic Press.
He was appointed Archbishop of Mosul in May 1999, taking up the post in December, with a congregation of 35,000. Casmoussa was kidnapped, reportedly by gunmen in Mosul, at the age of 66 on January 17, 2005.
The kidnapping was widely condemned. The Archbishop was freed one day later on January 18 with no ransom being paid.
