Chaldean patriarch urges Christians to remain in Iraq

February 03, 2009

The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church is urging the nation’s Christians to remain in Iraq. His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylonia of the Chaldeans, told L’Osservatore Romano that “we must remain in our country at whatever cost” so that there may continue to be witnesses to Christ in the Middle East. Exhorting Iraqi Christians to pray and live exemplary lives of charity, the patriarch said that God gave men the gift of freedom, and thus Christians are free to leave; nonetheless freedom ought not to be confused with a liberalism without values.

 

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Further information:

• A colloquio con Sua Beatitudine Emmanuel III Delly, patriarca di Babilonia dei Caldei: La Chiesa irachena tra sofferenze e speranza (L’Osservatore Romano)
• The Chaldean Catholic Church (CNEWA)