Erbil (AsiaNews) – The Chaldean Church Synod opens tomorrow June Ist and will last for an entire week. The meeting of Iraq’s Church leaders will take place in the Chaldean monastery of al Qosh, near Mosul, Northern Iraq. The Procurator for the Chaldean Church to the Holy See, Msgr. Philip Najim, has told AsiaNews that “despite security concerns, the Patriarch and bishops chose to hold the synod on national soil to send a strong signal of solidarity to the entire community, to let them know that we are present and that their lives are dear to us”. The last Synod was instead held in Rome in November 2005.
“The issue of the security of the community, halved by forced emigration, will be at the heart of the Synods’ discussions”, says Msgr. Najim. According to anonymous sources in Baghdad, particular focus will be given to the problem of “the numerous Christian families forced onto the streets after Islamic extremists expropriated all of their worldly possessions”. Msgr. Najim also revealed that the future of the Babel College (the only faculty of theology in the country, which has been transferred to the capital of Kurdistan) and the conditions of diocese in Iraq and the entire Middle East will also be discussed.
Bishops of the Chaldean Diaspora will also be present in al Qosh, “they are coming from the United States, Canada, Australia and Lebanon” .Msgr. Francis Chullikat; the Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq will also attend the summit. On the issue of whether security problems will prevent some prelates from travelling to the North the procurator replies that “when the Patriarch convokes the Synod all bishops are obliged to attend, in accordance with the Cannon Law of Oriental Churches”.
The al Qosh meeting will also be an opportunity to draw world attention to the tragic conditions of Iraq’s Christians, who are being subjected to a veritable campaign of ethnic cleansing. Yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden where a large community of the Iraqi Chaldean Diaspora resides, over 1000 people took part in a demonstration march through the city centre to Parliament, carrying banners “Don’t kill Iraq’s Christians”. Swedish parliamentarians also took part in the march, launching an appeal for greater protection of Christians in Iraq.