An Urgent Appeal by Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako
(taken from the Blog of His Excellency, Bishop Gregory. J Mansour
posted on 25 August)
Since the 6th of August until now there
is not yet an immediate concrete solution for the crisis we are facing. On the
other hand the flow of funds, arms and fighters continues to the Islamic State.
Despite the fact that we are living an organized campaign of elimination from
Iraq, the world conscience is not fully awake to the gravity of the situation.
Now, the second phase of the calamity has already began, which is the migration
of these families to the different parts of the world, thus dissolving the
history, heritage, and identity of these people into void.
Displacement and migration have their
great impact on us, both on Christians and Muslims. Iraq is losing an
irreplaceable component of its society, the Christian one; hence begins the
vanishing of a genuine tradition!
The international community,
principally the United States and European Union due to their moral and
historic responsibility towards Iraq, cannot be indifferent. While
acknowledging all that is being done to solve this crisis, it seems that the
decisions and actions undertaken until now have made no real change in the course
of events and the fate of these affected people is still at stake, as if these
people are not part of the human race!
The same is true with regard to the
Muslim community, whose statements about the barbaric acts in the name of their
religion practiced against the life, dignity and freedom of Christians were not
according to our expectation, knowing that Christians have contributed and
fought for this country, living in partnership with their Muslim brothers alongside
the Islamic civilization.
Religious fundamentalism is still
growing in its power and force, creating tragedies, and making us wonder when
the Islamic religious scholars and the Muslim intellectuals will critically
examine this dangerous phenomenon and eradicate it by educating a true
religious consciousness and spreading a genuine culture of accepting the other
as brother and as an equal citizen with full rights.
What has happened is terrible and
horrific, therefore, we need an urgent and effective international support from
all the people of good will to save the Christians and Yezidis, genuine
components of the Iraqi society from extinction, knowing that silence and
passivity will encourage ISIS fundamentalists to commit more tragedies! The
question is who will be next?
Many of these displaced persons wish to
return to their towns and houses in the Nineveh Plain, and hope to see it safe
under international protection. But the full safety of this zone cannot be
achieved without the cooperation of the International Community along with the
joint action of the Central Government and the Regional Government of
Kurdistan. These innocent people deserve to live in peace and dignity after the
terror afflicted on them by the ISIS and after being looted by their own
neighbors.
The Church: Certainly we are proud of
the faith of our sons and daughters and their steadfastness and courage in the
face of this calamity for the sake of their belief. We invite them to live this
crisis in a real communion with all the people around them without any
distinction. What we need is not exhausting statements but real communion with
others which we experienced during the visit of the delegation of the French
bishop’s conference, Personal Envoy of Pope Francis and Patriarchs. This crisis
is empowering us for a spiritual, moral and material reconstruction of our
communities. We do respect the decision of those who wish to migrate, but for
those who wish to remain, we underline our long history and deeply rooted
heritage in this land. God has his own plan for our presence in this land and
invites us to carry the message of love, brotherhood, dignity, and harmonious
co-existence.
Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako,
President of the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in Iraq
President of the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in Iraq