Newsfeed
Christian and Muslim leaders: Pope Francis' Iraq trip still bearing good fruit, but more dialogue needed
Author: Jonah McKeown
Publication Date: 28/9/2021
Source: Catholic News Agency
Pope Francis’ March visit with Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric, has already helped to foster some peace in Iraq, but religious and political leaders must continue to “invest” in dialogue if the meeting is to produce long-term positive effects, panelists said in a livestreamed discussion this week.
Good News for Iraq’s Christians: More Autonomy, Less Dhimmitude
Author: Jayson Casper
Publication Date: 8/10/2021
Source: Christianity Today
This week, the Christian enclave of Ankawa in Erbil, the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan, was designated by the autonomous region’s prime minister as an official district with administrative autonomy. Starting next week, Christians will directly elect their own mayor and be in charge of security, among other matters.
Post-election controversy over the distribution of seats reserved for Christian candidates
Publication Date: 21/10/2021
Source: Agenzia Fides
A few days after the Iraqi parliamentary elections, which took place on Sunday, October 10, the foreseeable post-electoral controversies over the distribution of the 5 parliamentary seats reserved by the electoral system for Christian candidates returns. The most explicit objections to the results relating to the quota of seats guaranteed to politicians belonging to the local Christian communities, were expressed by former Christian Mp Yussef Juseph Sliwa, who went so far as to state in an interview broadcast by the Kurdish network Rudaw that the five new MPs who won the seats in this quota do not really represent Iraqi Christians, given that 90% of the votes in their favor did not come from Christian voters, according to him. The accusation, which also emerged on the occasion of the Iraqi political elections of 2018, calls into question major political groups, of Shiite and Kurdish origin, who allegedly diverted part of their votes to candidates running for Christian seats, in order to place MPs there, fully aligned with their political strategies. In his interview, Sliwa reiterated that politicians belonging to local Christian communities - Syrians, Chaldeans and Assyrians - should not get involved in conflicts between the Shiite and Shiite parties and Kurdish groups against other Kurdish political groups.
Chaldean Patriarch Sako: the future of Christians in the Middle East depends above all on them
Publication Date: 6/10/2021
Source: Agenzia Fides
The presence of Christian communities in the Middle East and their survival in the lands of the first apostolic preaching call into question "first of all" the responsibilities of Middle Eastern Christians themselves, who are also called to "admit their mistakes" to free themselves from a persistent "sectarian mentality" in order to build civil institutions together with their fellow citizens, which are suitable to guarantee the coexistence among different people. This is how the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako comments the present and the future of Christians in the Middle East. He does this in the context of a long and detailed reflection published by the Iraqi cardinal through the official communication tools of the Chaldean Patriarchate.
The shattered dreams of Iraqi Christians displaced by IS
Author: Carles Grau Sivera
Publication Date: 14/10/2021
Source: La Prensa Latina
Thousands of Christian families who fled towns in northern Iraq when the Islamic State terror organization seized control of swathes of the region in 2014 continue to live in camps with little prospect of returning home three years after the extremist group was defeated in the country.
Iraqi Kurdish PM grants Erbil Christian neighbourhood administrative control
Publication Date: 5/10/2021
Source: The New Arab
The Prime Minister of the Kurdish region of Iraq, Masrour Barzani, has announced that the Ainkawa district of Erbil has been placed under the administrative control of its Christian residents.
It is hoped that the move will create a home for Iraq and Syria’s Christian minorities, who have been forced to flee their homes due to fears of persecution.
Ainkawa’s Christians welcome move to elevate town’s status
Author: Dilan Sirwan
Publication Date: 7/10/2021
Source: Rudaw
In the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Ainkawa, young people said a recent decision to elevate the town’s status to a district is an “excellent step towards the right path,” hoping it will give Christians the right to elect their own leaders and convince people not to emigrate.
Baghdad, Christian MP: Duty to vote, despite 'marginal' change
Author: Dario Salvi
Publication Date: 30/9/2021
Source: Asia News
Iraqis are not looking forward with great hope for a 'radical change" in the upcoming general elections, scheduled for October 10, but "it is our duty to vote" even if thae change is "minimal and marginal" says Rihan Hanna Ayoub, a 37 year old Christian MP from the constituency of Kirkuk.
Elections, the "Babylon Movement" obtains 4 of the 5 seats reserved for Christian candidates
Publication Date: 12/10/2021
Source: Agenzia Fides
The Iraqi parliamentary elections held on Sunday, October 10 have assigned representatives of the "Babylon Movement" up to 4 of the five seats reserved for Christian candidates by the national electoral system. This is reported by local sources consulted by Agenzia Fides, on the basis of the first data provided by the High Electoral Commission. According to the same sources, the fifth seat, assigned in the Erbil district, has been assigned to the independent candidate Farouk Hanna Atto. The electoral result regarding the number of seats reserved for Christian candidates, somewhat surprising, will not cease to reignite the controversy about the possible political manipulation to which the allocation of seats in Parliament reserved for local Christians or belonging to other ethnic and religious minorities members of the communities seems to be exposed.
Christians produce magazine for Iranian women
Author: Kevin Zeller
Publication Date: 8/10/2021
Source: Mission Network News
In Iran, Muslim settings often ignore the thoughts, feeling, and ideas of women. That’s why Omid Sabouki operates a ministry that focuses on the value of women. He says many Iranian women have been brought up to think this way about themselves.
