ASIA/IRAQ - The "misleading representations" of the initiatives of the Chaldean Patriarch regarding the protests in the streets have been rejected

Friday, 8 November 2019 middle east oriental churches area crisis politics international politics

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IRAQ

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Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The recent meetings of Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako with the participants in the protest demonstrations taking place in Baghdad in no way expressed an "antagonistic" position of the leaders of the Chaldean Church towards the government and national political institutions. They only wanted to show solidarity with the legitimate demands of the demonstrators, recognized as such also by the government, and to reiterate support for the process of creating a genuine rule of law also in Iraq. This was underlined by a statement released by the Chaldean Patriarchate itself, which states in its title the intention to deny the "misleading representations" circulated in the media and social networks in Iraq regarding some of the Patriarch's initiatives, such as the recent visits made by the Primate of the Church Chaldean to some wounded hospitalized after the clashes in the streets and to the demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square, in Baghdad. The critics had attacked these initiatives, presenting them as an expression of excessive political leadership on the part of the Head of the most substantial ecclesial structure present in Iraq.
Patriarch Sako's visit to the wounded hospitalized - reads the statement - was of a humanitarian nature and also served to bring a sum of money to the health facility for the purchase of medicines, while at the meeting on Saturday 2 November with the protesters in Tahrir Square, which lasted over an hour, the Patriarch together with his auxiliary bishops invited everyone to remain calm and ban all forms of violence during the protests. Contacts between government officials and the Patriarchate - adds the text released by its official channels - continue steadily, and the Patriarch, even in his meeting with the protesters, simply invited the government "to listen to the cry of his sons and daughters" meeting the demands of fighting corruption and supporting the creation of jobs and services through a transparent government administration. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 8/11/2019)