By SIR
“The Christians of Iraq live in fear of the future”: mgr. Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka, archbishop of Baghdad, tells the European Parliament (EP) about the daily experience of the Christians who live in Iraq. Matoka tells that, “since the war broke out against Saddam Hussein’s regime and after the change of regime, problems have multiplied for us. Christians are those who have suffered most” as a consequence of such events. The archbishop explains what happened on 31st October with the terrorist attack in the Cathedral he is responsible for: “I have fifty dead people and seventy injured people before my eyes … But we have not come here in Strasbourg to ask for a war crusade, but to ask for help to build peace in our land”. In his opinion, the European Union could "support Baghdad’s Government at this stage, so that it will prove to be willing to protect Christians. But our government cannot make it on its own”. Mgr. Basile Georges Casmoussa, archbishop of Mossul, adds: “We might think of a large-scale international conference to be held in a Iraq or, should this not be possible, in Lebanon, to focus on the protection of minorities in the Middle East”.
“The Christians of Iraq live in fear of the future”: mgr. Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka, archbishop of Baghdad, tells the European Parliament (EP) about the daily experience of the Christians who live in Iraq. Matoka tells that, “since the war broke out against Saddam Hussein’s regime and after the change of regime, problems have multiplied for us. Christians are those who have suffered most” as a consequence of such events. The archbishop explains what happened on 31st October with the terrorist attack in the Cathedral he is responsible for: “I have fifty dead people and seventy injured people before my eyes … But we have not come here in Strasbourg to ask for a war crusade, but to ask for help to build peace in our land”. In his opinion, the European Union could "support Baghdad’s Government at this stage, so that it will prove to be willing to protect Christians. But our government cannot make it on its own”. Mgr. Basile Georges Casmoussa, archbishop of Mossul, adds: “We might think of a large-scale international conference to be held in a Iraq or, should this not be possible, in Lebanon, to focus on the protection of minorities in the Middle East”.