Iraq (International Christian Concern) — At one point, Mosul, Iraq, was home to more than 50,000 baptized Christians. Today, fewer than 70 Christian families live there. 

In his Sept. 24 message to diplomats and government officials in Vienna, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said that this decline in Mosul was part of a larger crisis that Christians are facing in the region.  

Sako noted that Christians in Iraq have faced many challenges during the past two decades, from war to religious extremism and systematic discrimination, which have all contributed to the sharp decline of Christians in this region. 

Iraq’s Christian population used to be more than 1 million; now it is about half that number. The rise of the Islamic State group (ISIS), al-Qaida, and militia violence has continued to decrease the number of believers in Iraq. The implementation of the Personal Status Law — a law based on Islamic law — also allows the Islamization of minors, which can also harm young believers in the region.

To address the decline of the Christian population in Iraq, Sako examined ways to halt emigration and encourage those who had left the country to return. Sako suggested restoring properties that had been lost in conflict to these believers, providing financial compensation, and enhancing security through governmental forces rather than the militia.

Sako called for Iraq to become a country where equal rights are guaranteed to all, regardless of their religion. To achieve that goal, he said that Iraq must move past sectarian divisions and embrace a constitution founded on secular and democratic values.  

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