Christian properties in the crosshairs

The Iraqi head of state annulled his predecessor Talabani’s 2013 decree sanctioning the cardinal’s appointment as head of the Chaldean Church. For Rashid, it is a “constitutional” question that does not change the figure of the cardinal at all. In reality, what is at stake is the control of ecclesiastical property. Sources of They claim that the decision came after a meeting between the president and Rayan the Chaldean, a self-proclaimed Christian leader sponsored by Shiite militias

Baghdad () – New clouds are hanging over the future of Christians in Iraq, after the violence and persecution of the past, and directly affect the highest ecclesiastical authority in the country: the Chaldean patriarch, Card. Louis Raphael Sako, from whom the President of the Republic recently withdrew what can be defined as “institutional recognition” of the position he holds. Indeed, the Head of State annulled decree 147, promulgated by his predecessor Jalal Talabani on July 10, 2013, which sanctioned the pontifical appointment of the cardinal as head of the Chaldean Church “in Iraq and in the world” and therefore ” responsible for the goods of the Church”. And on this point, he highlighted an ecclesiastical source of in Iraq, the whole issue turns: “Control of the assets and property of Christians, of the Church, that someone wants to take away.”

President Abdul Latif Rashid himself had intervened in recent days with a note on the matter, with the intention of “clarifying” the contours of the matter. “This annulment”, he stressed, “does not affect the religious or legal status of Patriarch Sako”, since he was appointed “by the Apostolic See”. It is a question, continued the Muslim Kurdish leader, of “correcting” a matter of a “constitutional” nature, while the person of the Patriarch continues to enjoy “the respect and appreciation of the Presidency of the Republic as patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and in the world”.

In fact, however, the President’s decision would end up depriving the patriarch of the administration of the Church’s assets, which have long been targeted by Ryan “the Chaldean” and the Babylonian Brigades. “And it’s no coincidence,” stressed the source “That the president’s decision came a few days after Rashid himself met with Ryan, the self-styled Christian leader. Others want to intervene, command, expropriate what belongs to Christians,” the source continued. “For more than 100 years, the patriarch, after being appointed by the Pope, has received recognition of his position by decree, first from the king and then from the president, in which it is stated that he is the head of the Church and the custodian of his property. With the annulment of the presidential decree, the primate “would end up legally losing control of the property and the assets themselves,” the source concluded, but Card. Sako “is determined to fight and is already studying the appeal to the courts so that the law prevails and justice is done.”

The controversy surrounding the revocation of the presidential decree is only the latest chapter in a series of attacks that have hit the most authoritative -and respected- figure of the Chaldean Church in Iraq, to ​​the point that in recent weeks had raised the “voice” of Christians in response to “lies”. We are referring to the attack directed against Patriarch Sako and the leadership of the Church by the leader of the Babylon Movement, Rayan al-Kaldani. The self-described Christian leader, backed by linked Shiite factions to foreign powers (read, Iran), wants to form an enclave in the Nineveh plain taking advantage of its position of strength and having four deputies in Parliament [de los cinco reservados a la minoría, aunque su elección no la ejercen exclusivamente los cristianos, ndr.] and a ministry controlled by him. The “Babylon Brigades” faction emerged at the time of the fight against the Islamic State in the last decade and established itself economically and politically.

The bishops of the north (Mosul and the Nineveh plain) have strongly criticized the system of assigning quotas to minorities, fully supporting the cardinal’s battle and announcing a possible boycott of the upcoming elections by the Christian component. In May, the Chaldean primate himself had suggested a possible recourse to international justice bodies to protect the correct distribution of the quota of parliamentary seats. These positions have given rise to attacks against the patriarch and the institution by people close to the “Babylon Movement”, which have become increasingly harsh and harsh over time, to the point of pushing hundreds of Christians – priests and faithful – to go out and show solidarity with the cardinal.

In a joint statement they sent to , the Assyrian Democratic Movement, the Syrian Chaldean Assyrian People’s Council, the Betnahrain Patriotic Union, the Sons of Nahrain Party and the Assyrian Patriotic Party confirmed their “support” for the patriarch. A proximity that goes beyond religious authority, but concerns “status as a religious institution that represents an important part of Iraqi society.” The Christian movements define the decision as “not very reassuring” because of its “negative repercussions”, which “add to the direct attacks” against the Christian component, including “displacements, murders of clergy and civilians, kidnappings, bombings of churches and demographic changes “. “As national parties,” the note concludes, “we reject this decree” which will allow “the manipulation of ecclesiastical property by influential and corrupt parties with clear ambitions to expropriate it.”