ICC Note:
“The plight of Christians in Iraq has been highlighted in a meeting between two leading bishops from the country and the President of the Council of Europe,” Independent Catholic News reports.
By Jurgen Liminski and John Pontifex
9/14/2011 Iraq (Independent Catholic News) – The plight of Christians in Iraq has been highlighted in a meeting between two leading bishops from the country and the President of the Council of Europe, Hermann Van Rompuy.
In their meeting with Mr Van Rompuy on Tuesday, 13 September, Archbishops Bashar Warda of Erbil and Amil Nona of Mosul said there was no religious freedom in Iraq.
The two Chaldean-rite bishops stressed the need for Christians to receive help to build schools, saying that with Muslims filling 90 percent of places available, Church-run education schemes benefitted the whole of society.
Archbishop Warda said: “Education would help to develop a new culture as well as freedom of religion, opening up new perspectives for young people.”
The half-hour meeting in Brussels took place in the framework of visits organised by Aid to the Church in Need.
During the discussions, Mr Rompuy asked about people’s living conditions in Iraq, women’s rights and how Europe could help. Both bishops have given bold witness to the suffering of Christians and others in Iraq.
Christians and church buildings in Archbishop Nona’s Archdiocese of Mosul have come under repeated attack and his own predecessor, Archbishop Boulos Faraj Rahho died in captivity in March 2008.
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