By BaghdadhopeSources and photos: Ankawa.com and Syriac Catholic Diocese of Mosul
The first visit of the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic church to Iraq that began on Tuesday October 15 continued with different meetings with the top religious and political leaders. On Sunday 18 Mar Ignatius Joseph Younan III, along with the bishops who travelled with him to Iraq and Msgr. Atanase Mati Shaba Matoka, bishop of Baghdad, was received by Msgr. Gewargis Sliwa, Assyrian Church of the East bishop of Baghdad who presented him some books about the history of the Church of the East as a sign of fraternity. On the same Sunday the bishops met the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al Maliki, whose words of solidarity were echoed the day after during the meeting with the President of the Republic of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, who expressed his closeness to the Christian community of the country recalling the contribute given by it to its growth also in its role of bridge between East and West, and who insisted on the necessity to preserve its full rights.