ROME, APRIL 26, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk is asking Iraqi authorities and the international community to defend the Christian minority in his country.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, the Chaldean archbishop decried the fact that "Christians in Baghdad and Mosul, as in other parts of the country, are threatened, and extremist groups have ordered them to leave their homes, without giving them time to gather their belongings. They have even asked them to convert to Islam."
"This cannot happen," insisted Archbishop Sako. "We Christians have been in Iraq for 2,000 years; we are Iraqi citizens and we have played an important role in the building of this country."
The 58-year-old prelate appealed "to moderate Muslims and Iraqi politicians so that the threats Christians are facing would be taken seriously, otherwise Christians would be forced to leave the country."
This "would represent a great loss for everyone and not only for the threatened Christians in Iraq," the archbishop said.
"One of the human rights is religious freedom, which has always been protected and we have always practiced our religion openly," he concluded. "Why then, today, must Christians leave the city or convert to Islam?"
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