Fewer and Fewer Christians in Syria and Iraq

According to the Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, the Christian presence in the Middle East runs the risk of disappearing not so much because of the churches that are destroyed but “because men emigrate abroad, while families with a Christian spouse and a Muslim spouse will follow the Islamic religion.” 

Although the zone was liberated at the end of 2016, the situation is scarcely any brighter in Iraq. After 85% of the population fled from the Nineveh Plains during the occupation by the ISIS jihadists, the Christians are not yet ready to return to the region, explained Dindar Zebari, international assistance coordinator for the government of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, in the north of the country. The representative of the regional government added that certain areas in the Plains have become “military zones in the hands of local militias.” 

Dindar Zebari explained that it is uncertain whether they will return, for they fear that “there will not be proper protection for Christians against violence and retaliations.” There is also “the lack of work, the collapse of infrastructures, and the worrisome presence of independent armed formations, organized on a sectarian basis and uncontrolled by the federal armed forces.” “Many do not wish to go back to live among a Sunnite population that did not protect them or even proved hostile or hailed the jihadists when they took over the city.”

When participating in the installation ceremony of Archbishop Najib Mikhaël Moussa, the new Chaldean archbishop of the archdiocese of Mosul, Patriarch Louis Raphaël Sako pleaded for a “rebirth” of the northern Iraqi city that has been devastated by the combats. 

 In this mostly Sunnite metropolis, the atmosphere remains hostile, even though the jihadists have been driven from the city that was completely liberated in July 2017–at least theoretically. Despite the tension that remains palpable, about 50 Christian families already returned last fall. The city was completely emptied of its Christians when the jihadists arrived on June 10, 2014.