_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ Iraq ________________

Chaldean faith flourishing
Bishops thank Pope for opposition to sanctions
A Chaldean Catholic leader assured the Fides news service that the faith is flourishing in Iraq despite an international embargo and American bombing raids.

Msgr. Jacques Isaak, the general secretary of the Chaldean bishops’ conference, spoke to Fides at a time when the Chaldean bishops were in Rome for their ad limina visit. “The fact that the US could attack Iraq does not frighten us,” Msgr. Isaak said. “They have been bombing us for eleven years. We are used to it.”

The Chaldean Church spokesman—who works closely with Patriarch Raphael Bidawid—said that the bishops from Iraq had “thanked the Pope for the courageous position he has always taken against the UN embargo.” He affirmed that the people are suffering great privation because of that embargo. “Thousands of Iraqi children have died for lack of food and medicine,” he said. “This cannot be allowed to continue.”

However, the physical suffering of the country has not dimmed the faith of the Chaldean Church, Msgr. Isaak reported. He said: “The piety of Iraqi Christians impresses even the faithful in the west. Loyalty to the faith has cost Iraqi Christians a dear price: persecution, martyrdom. Since it costs a lot to remain faithful to Christ, we know the value of Jesus Christ.”

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