By Aid to the Church in Need (UK)
John Pontifex
January 9, 2020
A bishop from Erbil - where Iran carried out missile attacks - has warned that any continuation of conflict in the region could cause Iraq's fragile Christian community to lose confidence in the future.
John Pontifex
January 9, 2020
A bishop from Erbil - where Iran carried out missile attacks - has warned that any continuation of conflict in the region could cause Iraq's fragile Christian community to lose confidence in the future.
In
an interview today (Thursday, 9th January) with Catholic charity Aid to
the Church in Need, Syriac Catholic Archbishop Nathaniel Nizar Semaan
of Hadiab-Erbil issued an appeal for prayer, stating his hope that the
conflict was just "temporary".
His comments come as bishops from
across the region highlighted the potential impact of the renewed
tension on Iraq's Christian community, amid reports that the faithful
have dwindled to below 250,000 - a decline of 90 percent within a
generation.
Archbishop Semaan told ACN: "Any conflict and tension
such as what we have seen over these past days makes us lose our trust
in the situation. We just hope that it was just a temporary situation of
violence and will finish immediately."
Iran carried out ballistic
missile attacks on US air bases in Erbil as well as Al Asad, west of
Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, on Tuesday (7th January) night in response
to the US killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani four days earlier.
Archbishop
Semaan, who last summer became archbishop after 14 years as Syriac
Catholic chaplain in the UK, said: "We know that the politicians will do
everything necessary to stop these attacks.
"We want to have a good relationship with everybody but at the same time respect our dignity and identity as Iraqi people."
He
added: "We hope that we are not going to reach that point where we will
have to leave. We hope that we will never reach that point."
His
comments come after fellow Erbil prelate Chaldean Catholic Archbishop
Bashar Warda and Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Yousif Mirkis of Kirkuk
expressed concerns about Iraq becoming the setting for clashes between
Iran and the US.
Archbishop Warda said: "The current tensions are
threatening the serious fragility of the [Christian, Yazidi and other
minority] communities, which are tired of war and the tragic
consequences of it."
These communities, he continued, beset by
"fears and anxieties…, need the certainty, reassurance, hope and the
belief that Iraq can be a peaceful country to live in rather than being
victims and endless collateral damage."
Iraq is a priority country
for Aid to the Church in Need which provided emergency help for
Christians forced from the Nineveh Plains by Daesh (ISIS).
Following Daesh's defeat, ACN is helping the faithful return to their homelands.