By John Pontifex and Oliver Maksan The Church in Iraq is on the brink of disappearing into obscurity, according to the country’s leading bishop, who says the migration of Christians has shot up. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Baghdad described how the rate of Christians leaving Iraq was growing and went on…
By Susannah George KHAZIR CHECKPOINT, Iraq — Lilian stood by the side of the road at this dusty checkpoint along the Erbil-Mosul highway. In skinny jeans and a polka-dot blouse, she looked a bit out of place. Most of the other Iraqis on the road are very poor, while Lilian an her family are middle…
By Mindy Belz “Ninety-nine percent of the Christians have left Mosul,” pastor Haitham Jazrawi said today following the takeover of Iraq’s second largest city—and its ancient Christian homeland—by al-Qaeda-linked jihadist militants. A mass exodus of Christians and Muslims is underway from the city of 1.8 million after hundreds of gunmen with the Islamic State of…