14.08.07 - Iraqi Christians Facing Genocide

The seizure of Iraq’s largest Christian town has prompted a mass exodus of refugees, which a leading Catholic bishop described as a Way of the Cross that could become a genocide unless the global community intervenes.

“They are facing a human catastrophe and risk a real genocide. They need water, food, shelter,” Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon said in an Aug. 7 open letter.

His letter follows the fall of the city of Qaraqoush to forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – known as ISIS – on Wednesday night. The town was one of Iraq’s largest Christian towns until the Kurdish military forces known as the Peshmerga withdrew from it.

“Today the story of Christianity is finished in Iraq,” said a priest who identified himself as Fr. Nawar.

“People can’t stay in Iraq because there is death for whoever stays,” told EWTN News Aug. 8.

The priest recalled a phone conversation he had with his brother after his family left Qaraqosh, using one of their family’s two cars to help another family escape.

“My family has two cars. When they escaped, there were many people who didn’t have a car, and my brother helped a family with his car. He took them in his car and they escaped with my brother.”

However, “there are many people escaping on foot,” he said. “There are no cars and there is no money. There is not mercy today in this life.”

“When ISIS arrives, the Christians must change religion or escape. There is no other option. Change religions, become Muslim, and those who don’t convert leave.”

Thousands of Christians and other minorities fled Mosul after a July 18 ultimatum demanding they convert, pay the jizya tax or be killed. They went to other towns in Nineveh province and in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Qaraqoush is referred to as the Christian capital of Iraq. Islamic State militants have taken down crosses and burned religious manuscripts, the BBC reports.

Patriarch Sako said about 100,000 Christians fled their villages and houses “horrified and panicked” with “nothing but the clothes on their backs,” the Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need reports.

Patriarch Sako said Iraq’s central government is “incapable of enforcing law and order in this part of the country.” He also questioned whether Iraqi Kurdistan will be able to defend against “the fierce advance of the jihadists.”

Qaraqoush Christians and their churches had been receiving refugees from other parts of Iraq. The occupation by Islamic State forces has meant the end of salaries for government employees and the end of government-supplied ration cards, causing further hardship for the residents.

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., said that Pope Francis “urgently calls on the international community to protect all those affected by the violence and to guarantee all necessary assistance – especially the most urgently needed aid – to the great multitude of people who have been driven from their homes.”

The Pope noted that their fate “depends entirely on the solidarity of others.”

The Obama administration announced late Thursday night that it had authorized “targeted airstrikes” to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and defend U.S. military advisors in the Iraqi capital of Irbil. It is also airdropping humanitarian aid to a Yazidi group trapped in the mountains of Sinjar without access to food or water.

In addition, Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Fernando Filoni as his personal envoy to Iraq. Cordova said she is “glad and pleased to hear of the appointment,” adding that she recently spoke to her family members, who are also happy to hear of the news.

“Now they feel that the Christians in Iraq are not alone,” she said.

Read the original stories here:

Iraqi Christians facing risk of genocide, patriarch warns

Priest from Nineveh: 'Christianity is finished in Iraq'