Chaldean patriarch sees improvement in situation of Iraq’s Christians
April 22, 2013
As Iraqis participated in the first elections since the United States withdrew its troops, the leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church told Vatican Radio that he has observed an improvement in the situation of the nation’s Christians.
“There is an improvement of security on all levels,” said Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako. “There are also explosions, but nothing against Christians as it was before that. And also they can have their jobs and also their work.”
“The problem is the future,” he cautioned. “There is no real stability. Therefore they are a little bit worried, not only the Christians but also the others.”
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Further information:
- Iraqi patriarch urges Christians to vote in key elections (Vatican Radio)
- As elections approach, Chaldean Church emphasizes: politics is responsibility of laity (CWN, 4/18)
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Posted by: chady -
Apr. 23, 2013 5:35 AM ET USA
Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans S. B. Sako has recently stated his concerns for place of Christians in the new constitution of Iraq and how their rights and culture can be sustained effectively. “To those who continue to ventilate the establishment of a special autonomous area reserved for Iraqi Christians (usually identified with the Nineveh Plain), confirming that neither Christians nor those belonging to other ethnic or religious groups can live in a ghetto. The proposed subdivision of the territory of Iraq on sectarian basis express according to the Patriarch an outdated approach to the problems that plague the Middle East, where the only proper perspective is to affirm the principle of equal citizenship for all, "whether they are Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen ". The head of the Chaldean Church added that the possibility of establishing an Islamic state in Iraq was out of place: "The world has changed; it is plural and diverse,"
