Scottish Catholic Observer

“We feel forgotten and isolated,” Patriarch Louis Sako (above), head of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church, said. “We sometimes wonder, if they kill us all, what would be the reaction of Christians in the West? Would they do something then?”

At a speech in Rome last Friday, the patriarch made clear he was not asking for a mobilisation ‘to protect Christians,’ but rather Western efforts to support ‘harmonious societies for all human beings,’ based on ‘a civil state in which the only criterion is citizenship grounded in full equality under the law.’

The patriarch said that at the moment, the actions of nations such as the UK and the US seem to be based purely on self-interest.

“All they do is create problems, sell weapons and take oil,” he said. “This is a sin.”

In terms of the Catholic response, Patriarch Sako proposed that the Church produce a new document directed specifically at Muslims to lay out the case for moving beyond tolerance to ‘religious freedom and full citizenship.’

Patriarch Sako, 65, became the Chaldean Patriarch in January, succeeding Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly. The Chaldean church is one of 22 Eastern rite churches in communion with Rome, and represents the largest Catholic body in Iraq.

The patriarch bluntly described what he termed a ‘mortal exodus’ of Christians from the Middle East today, which he said is fuelled by sectarian conflict, rising Islamic extremism, and criminal gangs that often see Christians as convenient targets.

He believes more than 1000 Christians have been killed in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, while scores of others have been ‘kidnapped and tortured.’ He said that 62 churches and monasteries have been attacked.

Patriarch Sako called the Christian presence in the Middle East ‘a guarantee of a better future for Muslims’ and said Muslims should embrace ‘a new reading of their religion,’ arguing that moderates ought to be more outspoken in challenging ‘sectarian and provocative’ stances within Islam.

—This story ran in full in the December 20-December 27 double print edition of the SCO, available in parishes until the New Year, priced £2. Don’t miss the Year in Review special section inside.