Iraqi Christians have ‘great hope’ in ‘tragic’ situation

Iraqi Christians have ‘great hope’ in ‘tragic’ situation, Kirkuk archbishop says

Kirkuk, Iraq, Apr 2, 2009 / 12:01 am (CNA).- Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako, lamenting the number of Iraqi Christians who have been murdered or driven into exile by persecution, has said that the Christian community possesses “great hope” amid the “tragedy” of its circumstances. A total of 750 Christians have been murdered in the past five years, including Archbishop of Mosul Paulos Faraj Rahho, Archbishop Sako told a press conference convened by the charities Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Pro Oriente and Christian Solidarity International.

"Some 200,000 Christians have left the country. This is a tragedy for us," he said, appealing for support to help the Christian community to help its members remain in Iraq or return to their country. Christians themselves are concerned about the proposed withdrawal of U.S. troops, he said, naming the lack of security in the country to be its gravest problem. The Iraqi army and police were not yet strong enough to take over, the archbishop reported. “Under Saddam's regime we had security but no freedom. Today we have freedom, but the problem is security,” he said, according to ACN. Archbishop Sako called on the international community to help both Christian refugees and those Christians who remain in Iraq.

The story above should serve as a wake up call. We make much in our church of the early Christian martyrs who died for our faith. Persecution of Christians is common throughout the first 4 centuries of Christianity.

What people easily loose site of is that there have been far more Christian martyrs in the last 100 years than there were in the first 400 years after Christ. From the Ottoman empire's persecution of Christians in what is now Turkey, to the Nazis who exterminated large numbers of Catholics (many priests and sisters), to the persecution of Christians in the far east in Laos, China and Vietnam to the persecution of Catholics in Mexico, hundreds of Christians have died for the faith.

That 750 Christians have perished in Iraq in recent times is a sad testament to how privileged we are in our country. That they have the grace to find hope in the future is a lesson to us all.