BAGHDAD, Iraq — A new plan for Christian self-autonomy within Iraq’s Kurdish region has sparked debate among Iraqi Christian leaders desperate to halt the mass exit of Christians from Iraq.
With church-bombing and priest-kidnapping on the rise in Mosul and Baghdad, Iraq’s Christian population is estimated to have dropped below 450,000 — half the size it was in 1991. Iraq’s half-a-dozen or more historical churches, many of them dating back to the first three centuries after Christ, agree that something must be done to preserve their existence. But consensus on a solution is elusive.
"A year ago, the plight of the Christian community was not very well known," Michel Gabaudan of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told The Associated Press in a Dec. 15 article. "But that has changed, because we now have very clear evidence that they have been persecuted."
Share with others: