With the restoration of Cardinal Louis Sako as the official head and patriarch of Iraq’s Chaldean (Eastern rite Catholic) Church, the dwindling Christian minority has reason to hope for a better future in their own homeland, say Church leaders.

At the 2024 Synod of the Chaldean Church held in Baghdad from July 15-19, the assembled bishops thanked Iraq’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani for reinstating Sako as official head of the Church in Iraq and restoring his full authority over Church endowments. They also expressed hope the Iraqi government would take concrete steps to build peace and stability for all citizens regardless of their faith affiliation.

A year ago Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a decree that recognized Sako as the official head of the Chaldean Church — Iraq’s largest Christian denomination. This undermined Sako’s official position as leader of the Church but also his authority to administer Church properties and endowments. Sako left Baghdad, his official patriarchal headquarters, and sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region (KRI), an autonomous region in Iraq’s north.

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No Synod was held last year while the cardinal was in exile.

Now, with his reinstatement providing fresh hope for the future of the Christian community — reduced from 1.5 million in 2003 to fewer than 150,000 in 2022 — Sako and his bishops have requested Iraq address issues that have been driving Christian emigration at an alarming rate. Prior to his exile, Sako had pointed out that 20 Christian families were leaving the country each month in 2022 to seek a life of safety and dignity in the Western world.

“Our authentic Christian people (rooted in this land) have suffered a lot in the past two decades from the deprivation of their rights, marginalization, exclusion and the acquisition of their property and assets which forced many of them to emigrate searching for a better environment,” said the final communique of the 2024 Chaldean Church Synod, chaired by Sako.

“We also demand that their rights be fully respected as citizens with equal (political) representation, and employment, and we reject the seizure of their properties through the exclusivity of any political party.”

Questions from The Catholic Register to Abdul Rahman Al-Hussaini, Iraq’s ambassador to Canada, on what concrete steps his government intends to take to address these issues — cited as reasons for the continuing exodus of Iraqi Christians — did not receive a response.

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The Christian community has another reason to hope its destroyed communi- ties will receive the support needed for the massive task of rebuilding and restoring confidence. An online press conference organized by the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) highlighted the chal- lenges of reconstruction and of maintaining the Christian presence in Iraq, a country whose indigenous inhabitants known by various names —Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs — were among the first people in the world to embrace Christ’s teachings. Con- ference speakers assured the community of ACN’s and the Church’s commitment to support them in any way they can.

Iraq’s Christians have suffered a series of violent displacements, most recently in 2014 when ISIS, the extremist Islamist group, captured key cities and unleashed a reign of terror against Christians and other faith minorities, forcing 120,000 Christians to flee for their lives.

A U.S.-led coalition that included Iraqi and Kurdish forces defeated ISIS in 2017 and re-took the captured cities; however, the extremists left a trail of destruction and an ideology of hatred behind.

“ISIS was not just an army, it’s an ideology,” said Nizar Seeman, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Hadiab-Erbil. “And that’s the biggest problem in Iraq, because this mentality is still there.”

He emphasized the Church’s determina- tion to help vanquish this ideology and give the remaining Christians a sign of hope.

“The people here are like olive trees. You can cut them, burn them, but after 10 or 20 years they will continue to give fruit. They (ISIS) tried everything, but we remain, and as a Church we do everything to give a sign of hope,” Seeman said.

He added the Church presence today is due to support of the local Church, the Catholic Church worldwide and Christian organizations such as ACN.

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Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil recognized the important role of ACN in giving the traumatized community hope for the future.

“You (ACN) were and still are the voice for the persecuted Christians around the world,” Warda said. “You stood by us as brothers and sisters and shared the hardship by your physical presence here in Erbil, right from the first day of, I would say, the genocide that happened to the Christians, not just being a voice and praying and being with us, but also you provided health care, education, everything for our families to live a dignified life.”