A religious leader has called on the international community to build a "Christian home" in Iraq's Nineveh Plain, according to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Monseigneur Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, Mosul's Syriac Orthodox archbishop, was the last bishop who left the city in June 2014 when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) conquered it. The European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) held a reception for the religious leader to allow him to relay to Europe the sufferings of the Christians in Iraq, WND reports.
The Nineveh Plain served as home to most Assyrian Christians. Based on Bible records, the region is where one can find the city to which God sent the prophet Jonah.
In a statement, Sharaf denounced the "genocide" being committed against the Christians in the Middle East. He also lamented the lack of action from the international community against the acts that have significantly reduced their population.
Sharaf also said Christians are considered of no value when Muslims rule over the region. However, he said the most powerful nations in the world could stop ISIS from continuing their violent acts if they really want to.
"We Syrians are the original inhabitants of this land, then we became a minority and now we are merely refugees in our own land," said Sharaf. "... Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds: They all have got their territory. Christians ... must also have a right to live in peace, they need a secured home."
In light of the situation, Sharaf asked for help from the ECLJ and other organizations in paving the way for the repatriations of Christians to the place they once called home. He also said the international community should do something to protect a "Christian home" in the Nineveh Plain.
Meanwhile, the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I inaugurated a new church in Erbil on June 27. The church, which is dedicated to Mary Mother of Perpetual Help, will serve as a place of worship for Many Christians who fled from the Nineveh Plain last year, the Independent Catholic News details.
Aside from being a spiritual home for the refugees in Erbil, the newly inaugurated church will also serve as the center for pastoral care. Patriarch Louis said the new church will stand as a symbol of the Iraqi Christians' bond with the land of their ancestors.