03/06/2019 Iraq (International Christian Concern) – The Patriarch of Babylon and head of Iraq’s Chaldean Church, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, has sent the Central Government a draft national covenant which would serve as common ground for all of Iraq’s religious groups.

The document underscores sovereignty, security, and the economy as red lines which would protect Iraq’s homeland and unity. It also urges all parties to pledge that they would create a state “based on citizenship, law and institutions.”

Iraq’s Christians have long pointed to this combination as an essential feature of the country’s development if they are to remain. The genocide of ISIS further stressed the necessity of these items. Many Christians point to their absence as the reason for why the rise of ISIS was both predictable and preventable.

Although ISIS is now defeated, most of Iraq’s Christians have since left the country. The few who remain are struggling greatly to rebuild their lives in an environment where law and security are absent.

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