CWN - The government of Iraq has declared Christmas Day a national holiday, in a gesture of support for the country’s embattled religious minority.

The government announced the holiday as a show of “solidarity” with Christians, who have seen their community dwindle in strength during the past decade. The action came in response to a request from Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Raphael Louis I Sako, who had suggested making December 25 “a day of rest for all Iraqis.”