Church rebuilding after ISIS amid uncertainty, Iraqi prelate reports
November 04, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: The Chaldean Catholic Church is regaining strength in the Nineveh Plains region, after having been nearly wiped out by the Islamic State, reports Archbishop Bashar Batti Warda of Erbil.
“In 2003 there were some 2,000 families in Erbil,” the archbishop recalls. “Today we are talking about 8,000 Christian families: the largest Christian gathering in the Middle East.”
However, the Christian community still faces enormous challenges in the region, the archbishop notes. Christians—particularly young Christians—are leaving the Middle East to find security elsewhere. “Fifty years ago, we were 20% of the population of the Middle East, today we are talking about less than 4%. And when it comes to Iraq, in 2003 we were over 1 million, today we are 250,000, maybe even less.”
The troubles of the Church reflect the damage done by the violent disputes that continue to wrack the region, Archbishop Warda says. “The whole of the Middle East is burning.”
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