Iraq without its Christian citizens would be a disaster, Kirkuk Archbishop says

Mosul, Iraq, Apr 24, 2007 / 14:30 pm

Responding to the latest in a series of terrorist attack against the Christian communities in Iraq Monday, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk made an appeal for reconciliation in the country and noted the tremendous contributions Iraqi Christians have made in their country’s history.

A car bomb went off yesterday at Tell-el-skop, a Christian village north-east of Mosul, killing 10 people and injuring another 140.  Among the victims were two Dominican nuns.

Christians, Archbishop Sako began, “have been pioneers in the construction of the Iraqi civilization. Along with their Muslim brothers, they have bravely defended their bond with the land and integrity of Iraq. All of them are proof of the Christians’ loyalty, honesty, wisdom and longing for brotherhood.”

According to the archbishop, “this hostility towards Christians is clearly in conflict with the Iraqis and their humanitarian and Islamic morality.”

“Iraq without Christians would be a disaster for all Iraqis. Driving Christians out of their homes means deteriorating the concept of cohabitation and destroying the cultural, civil and religious mosaic that Iraq is considered the cradle and incubator of.”

The archbishop offered to all Iraqi’s an invitation “to reconciliation, solidarity and to leaving out the external elements that bring death and division.”