Iraq’s Christian communities in the area were dealt a severe blow when they were scattered by the Daesh onslaught in 2014, further shrinking the country’s already dwindling Christian population. Many hope their struggle to endure will get a boost from a historic visit by Pope Francis planned in March. Many Christians who fled the Daesh advance have either stayed in Iraq’s Kurdistan region or started new lives abroad. The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, estimated that 1 million Christians have left Iraq since 2003 and about 500,000 remained. As he left under cover of darkness shortly before the militants entered his town of Karamlis in 2014, the Rev.

Source: Ethiopian News February 23, 2021 06:58 UTC