Iraq: 'If Christians are forced to leave again they will not return'

Patriarch Louis Rafael Sako

Source: Vatican Media

As the war in the Middle East continues to escalate, with the spectre of a broader regional conflict looming, the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, has voiced his alarm.

"As Patriarch, I am deeply concerned. No one knows where this war will lead," he told Vatican News today.

Like much of the Middle East, Iraq has come under rocket and drone attacks from Iran over the past week, following Israeli-American strikes on Iran.

Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, has borne the brunt of the assaults, but the entire country, from oil fields in the southern city of Basra to Baghdad's airport, has been targeted.

Recalling the chaos, disorder, vengeance, and attacks that followed the 2003 US invasion, Patriarch Sako stressed that "we have lived through this before."

While Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq have so far remained largely on the sidelines, Patriarch Sako warned of the risks facing Iraqi society, where Shiites make up nearly 60% of the population. "We are afraid because we are neighbours with Iran, and many Iraqis are Shiite. There is a double concern."

"We fear a further escalation that could drag us into a large-scale regional war," the cardinal continued, noting that strikes have also hit Gulf states, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. "War is not the solution," he stressed. "Diplomacy is what can resolve these problems."

The head of the Chaldean Church also said he was following with concern the situation of Iraq's Christian communities, especially in their historic heartland of the Nineveh Plains, which was occupied by ISIS a decade ago.

"We Christians are very worried, because if they start attacking the Nineveh Plains, where there are 50,000 Christians, these people will leave their homes-and this time, they will not return," the Cardinal warned.

"I have asked Christians to pray for peace at every Sunday Mass, to be cautious, and not to lose courage or hope," Cardinal Sako said.

He also called on Iraq's other religious leaders to help ease tensions. "I have asked Muslim leaders to raise their voices for peace and fraternity, as Pope Francis did during his visit to Iraq and his meeting with Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani."

That historic encounter in the holy city of Najaf on March 6, 2021 remains a landmark moment for interfaith coexistence in Iraq. "It was a very important meeting," recalled Cardinal Sako. "Al-Sistani said 'We are part of you, and you are part of us', which is exactly what Pope Francis also said: 'We are brothers.'"

On March 4, as bombs continued to fall across the region, Ayatollah Al-Sistani issued a statement expressing his own fears of a widening war. He renewed his call "to all influential international actors and to the countries of the world, especially Islamic countries, to make every possible effort to bring an immediate end to the conflict and to find a just and peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, in accordance with international law."