VIDEO: Christian Survival in Iraq at ‘Tipping Point’ After Kurdistan Referendum
American Steve Rasche, who is helping to lead efforts to resettle Christians in northern Iraq, says steps must be taken to avert another “real war” in the region which, if it broke out, would “finish Christians in Iraq.”
Following last month’s referendum in which Kurdistan voted to secede from Iraq, the situation has become “quite complicated” for Christians in the Nineveh region as the threat of another conflict in Iraq looms.
This is according to Steve Rasche, director of the Nineveh Reconstruction Project based in Erbil, who told the Register that a conflict between the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdish government in Erbil could lead to a conflict “right on top of Christians.”
Rasche was speaking at the end of the first ever government-sponsored conference for persecuted Christians in Budapest, Hungary, Oct. 13.
The threat is “weighing heavily on everyone,” he said, and warned that a real war would “finish Christians in Iraq.” He and others are therefore working “very hard” to foster peace and dialogue, not just for Christians but all the people in the region.
“We are at a tipping point,” said Rasche. “We can save Christians if we stop a war from occurring.”
He called on the faithful to pray for them and to pay attention to what’s going on to understand the situation better.
Edward Pentin Edward Pentin is the Register’s Senior Contributor and EWTN News Vatican Analyst. He began reporting on the Pope and the Vatican with Vatican Radio before moving on to become the Rome correspondent for EWTN's National Catholic Register. He has also reported on the Holy See and the Catholic Church for a number of other publications including Newsweek, Newsmax, Zenit, The Catholic Herald, and The Holy Land Review, a Franciscan publication specializing in the Church and the Middle East. Edward is the author of The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates (Sophia Institute Press, 2020) and The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family (Ignatius Press, 2015). Follow him on Twitter at @edwardpentin.
