The Chaldean Patriarch speaks to about a “worrying” situation, especially for the civilian population, who pays “the highest price.” Mediations stall and the “war economy” continues to prevail, triggered by other elements of the crisis, such as demographics and climate. The role of the Shiite militias in the Iraqi scenario and the “scandal” that has recently affected the Chaldean Church.
Rome () – “We are responsible in the search for peace, for dialogue: the international community, the countries of the Middle East are all involved. But if we ourselves do not know how to put an end to this spiral, others will have to help us find the way to achieve it. This is the warning issued by the Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, Card. Louis Raphael Sako, before the spiral of violence in which the region is immersed, bloodied for a year by conflicts of increasingly wider scope: from Gaza, with the war launched by Israel against Hamas in response to the attack of October 7, 2023, to Lebanon, with the « “northern front” opened by the Jewish State to try to eliminate the “threat” of Hezbollah; passing through the other actors in the area, from the Houthi Shiites in Yemen to Iran, with the perspective of a large scale climbing. “The situation is worrying,” he warns, “reasons and responsibilities are not heeded, especially with civilians, who are the ones who pay the highest price. And the international assembly is timid, there are appeals and mediations, but they stagnate and fail to move forward.
War economy
We met with Card. Sako on the sidelines of the work of the synodal assembly that is being held this October in the Vatican, and the panorama drawn by the highest Iraqi ecclesiastical authority is ruthless and does not allow reductions towards those who have positions and responsibilities. “More than weak, which has a pejorative note, the international community is timid in its mediation work, because although it tries to do something, it is not moved – he warns – by that unity of intentions that today is necessary to be effective.” «My conviction – he explains to – is that there is no longer a world order like in the past. There are no longer values or principles and disorder reigns, chaos in which the strongest attacks the weakest. However, problems and conflicts must be resolved through dialogue, soft diplomacy and “non-violent deterrence”.
Dictating the international agenda, in a phase of multi-sector crisis, is the war economy in which “the arms trade prevails in a context of limited resources, a constantly growing world population and an increasingly dramatic environmental crisis. “Climate, ecology, access to food are factors that intervene in the conditioning of this theater of war.” The Middle East has for too long been a territory “without peace: we need international attention, care for this suffering part of the world that needs stability.” Even in the face of opposing or divergent interests between the West and the East, it is necessary to eliminate – the cardinal warns – all sources of violence, of recourse to war and weapons.
The Iraqi scene
Regarding the Iraqi scenario, there is a critical element that until now has remained in the shadows and has not been involved, if anything marginally, in the war scenario: the Shiite militias linked to Tehran, which, unlike the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi They have not intervened directly in the conflict by attacking Israel. “I think that until now – commented the Chaldean patriarch – an attitude of common sense has prevailed on the part of these groups, who do not want to enter into this power war” in which the actors multiply. “We have witnessed the intervention of militias,” he continues, “that have been involved in various capacities and at different times,” while avoiding “a war between states that would have devastating effects.” This can be considered an element of wisdom in a panorama in which the roar of weapons seems to prevail. After all, the Hamas movement “is by nature a militia” that does not represent the entire Palestinian people and, in the past, has been at odds with the Palestinian Authority itself. And both face Israel, which “is a State with tanks, an army, an air force in obvious imbalance on the ground.” «There can be no parity of forces – he continued – between Israel and Hamas, they are two too different realities. “That is why the only way is mediation, with the international community exerting the right pressure for the birth of a “State” capable of living, overcoming the logic of permanent conflict.”
The Chaldean Patriarch recently met with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, from whom he received ample assurances that ‘he does not want to be dragged into a regional war, although the mystery of the militias remains and the question on the agenda is how control it’. The Iraqi Executive finds itself in an “uncomfortable situation” because it rejects war and is “trying all possible means of mediation.” Furthermore, some of these militias “would like to help Hezbollah and Hamas, but an attitude of moderation prevails while awaiting developments.” At the level of religious leaders, even the highest Iraqi Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has launched an unusual call in tone and content for “stop the aggression” and humanitarian aid is sent to the population, a sign of great concern about the crisis. Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, and Jews “must all launch together,” the cardinal wished, “a prophetic and strong call for peace, fraternity, trying to defuse tensions.” Pope Francis has done it many times, but he is one of the few voices of peace” against those who “try to use religion to achieve their own interests.”
The “scandal” of the Chaldean Church
For Cardinal Sako, the presence of the militias is not only a cause for concern due to the regional repercussions, since in the recent history of the Chaldean Church they have represented an element of internal tension that risks leading to a devastating fracture. The “scandal of the Chaldean Church”, as the primate calls it, denouncing “the influences, even at a material level with concrete aid” to which some communities of the Church are subject. The reference is to one militia in particular: the Babylon Brigades of self-styled leader Rayan al-Kildani, who fomented divisions, maneuvered to have the presidential decree that caused self-exile withdrawn (then he came back after months) of card. Sako and pushed five bishops to boycott the last Chaldean Synod. Some realities, he denounced, ‘receive money and help from a certain militia, they are not autonomous and this is a great wound: the Church does not need money, but faith, and the clergy must serve totally, with passion, and independent of certain politics. or interests’.
The decision of the five bishops to snub the meeting in the capital, which was also an occasion to celebrate the patriarch’s return to Baghdad, was a cause of “deep shock.” Some of these “rebellious bishops, especially the younger ones, have been manipulated,” accuses the cardinal, who has already sent a file to the Holy See for evaluation and possible measures. In the background is the fear, still valid, of a true schism in the Chaldean Church, behind which is the hand of the same Shiite militias – active in the north of Iraq and in Kurdish territory – that act for money and power. “They wanted the Chaldean Synod to fail in order to have personal success, but instead it went very well, 17 bishops (of the total of 22) were very united,” says Card. Sako, who concludes by confiding his “first concern for the future: what is important for me is to prepare the ground to leave the leadership of the Chaldean Church to the successor.” To a patriarch – he concludes without naming names, but outlining priorities – who can unite and continue the tradition.
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