Archbishop: Iraq’s government has abandoned Christians

October 07, 2014

An Iraqi prelate said that the nation’s government is using international humanitarian assistance to assist Muslim refugees in Baghdad but is not helping Christian refugees who have fled to the Kurdish capital of Erbil.

“The government in Baghdad received a lot of help from the international community for the displaced people from Mosul and Nineveh but there has been no sign of it here,” Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda told Aid to the Church in Need.

While Iraq’s government “has done nothing, absolutely nothing” to assist Christians who have fled from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the prelate said that “Church agencies have been here helping us since day one and they remain with the people long after the headlines have moved on to something different.”

Archbishop Warda criticized Iraq’s Muslim leaders for not condemning the Islamic State’s actions and lamented the looting of Christians’ homes by longtime Muslim neighbors.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• IRAQ: Bishop says, "Our people have been abandoned" (Aid to the Church in Need)