If the bishops are so concerned about the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians at the hands of ISIS, perhaps they should have been a little more vocal when George W. Bush started his illicit "pre-emptive" war of choice which JPII and B16 both declared to be unjust. That left a political vacuum in the region that was promptly filled by ISIS. It's a little late in the game to fret about the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians now when the bishops could have done something to prevent it from ever happening in the first place. Silence does come with a price. I wonder if the bishops have ever personally atoned for their complicity in the Iraq War by their utter failure to stand up to Bush when his popularity was soaring. Somehow I tend to doubt it.