Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad Iraqi Catholic leaders are urging Christians to remain steadfast this Lenten season as they encounter challenges of the so-called Islamic State›s legacy. In a Lenten pastoral letter, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad urged Iraqi Christians to pursue unity with other Christians at this sacred time with “open hearts”.
“Many Christians today live in a crisis of Faith and intellect because of the circumstances of war, instability, migration and the dominance of social media on the details of their daily lives,” he wrote.
Many Chaldean Catholics lost their homes, properties and other possessions as they fled the so-called Islamic State militants in the summer of 2014. Many are destitute, still living in camps for the internally displaced or sheltering abroad.
“However, these challenges should not discourage their determination and dissuade them from renewing their Faith and deepening it, to witness of the Lord and his Church,” the patriarch said, calling on Christians to “increase within themselves strength, confidence and enthusiasm”.
Patriarch Sako also repeated his appeal to fellow Iraqis from different religious backgrounds to recognise Christians as “part of the national fabric of Iraq and to stop their decline, for Christians have had a historical presence in this country, where they have a role and a message”.
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Yousif Mirkis of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah estimates that “40–45% of the Christians have returned to some of their ancestral villages, particularly Qaraqosh”. But he and other Catholic leaders said there are still many challenges to those Christians hoping to return home after the Islamic State occupation and expulsion.