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| Chaldean Archbishops of Erbil and Kirkuk, Bashar Warda and Yousif Mirkis (photo: Aid to the Church in Need). |
The
following excerpts are from AINA.org:
Two
Iraqi archbishops are seeking "faith and hope" in Iraq,
while bewailing the continuing exodus of Christians from the country
amid continued violence.
Archbishop
Yousif Mirkis heads the Chaldean Archdiocese of Kirkuk, in Iraq's
autonomous Kurdistan region.
He
said that he "quite definitely" fears the end of
Christianity in Iraq.
"We
are in the process of disappearing, just as the Christians in Turkey,
Saudi Arabia and North Africa have disappeared. And even in Lebanon
they now constitute only a minority," he told the international
Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need July 8.
Archbishop
Mirkis said he is not resigned to defeat, but "trying to be
realistic."
"There
is still the hope that faith brings," he said. While he himself
will not leave Iraq, he said he understands why young Christians are
leaving in the wake of so many violent deaths.
"In
the past ten years we have lost a bishop and six priests. In addition
there are about a thousand of the faithful who have died in attacks."
"Not
everybody shares the faith and the hope."
The
Christian population in Iraq has plummeted to 400,000, down from
about 1.5 million before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Read
more by clicking below:
Christians Disappearing From Iraq, Bishops Lament
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