Vatican City, Aug 19, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Apostolic Nuncio in Iraq, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, expressed this week his concern at the growing exodus of Christians fleeing the country during the last two weeks, in the wake of terrorist attacks against churches in Baghdad and Mosul.
However, Archbishop Filoni did not confirm or deny reports by Minister of Displacement and Emigration, Pascale Icho Warda, the only Christian official in the Iraqi provisional government, that 40,000 Christians have fled the country in the last 14 days.
The nuncio said that the exodus by Christians could be stopped if the international community, which is in theory committed to bringing peace to the country, “translated those intentions” into concrete actions.
“I don’t have accurate information on the exodus of Christians from Iraq, and therefore I cannot express an opinion on the issue,” he told AsiaNews. “40,000, of course, is an extremely high figure,” he added.
Lastly, the Archbishop said, “We must reestablish security and civil order for all Iraqi, Christian and Muslim people.”
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