CWN - As the Iraqi army began an offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako appealed for national unity.

Expressing concern over “voices of division, inflexibility, and breakup,” he said, “I strongly believe that we Iraqis are one family, despite of our different affiliations,” as he called for a “genuine and civil democracy that respects everyone.”

“I pray: may God protect us, shorten our suffering, preserve the purity of our human kinship, and watch over the unity of our beloved country,” he added.

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