Iraqi Christians, One Year Later

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, March 15 — Twelve months after the U.S.-led invasion of their country to unseat dictator Saddam Hussein, the small Christian minority in Iraq offered mixed reviews to the “regime change” effected by the Western coalition.

Unlike Shiites and Kurds, Christians were never specifically targeted for persecution under Saddam's regime, although they suffered individually from his repressive rule and most are glad to see him out of power, the news service reported. However, Christians face new threats to their security with the prospect of a Shiite-dominated Islamic government.

Asked whether life had improved in Iraq since the fall of Saddam, Catholic Patriarch Emmanuelle-Karim Delly told Agence France-Presse: “To be frank, no, not at the moment. Christians are afraid to go out, as are Muslims. They are more frightened than before of car bombs, explosions. We didn't have this before. … So far, thank God, there is no problem between us and the Muslims. We have lived together for two centuries as brothers.”

Agence France-Presse noted that 750,000 Christians live in Iraq, most of them part of the Chaldean (Catholic) Church. Before U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990, there were 2 million Christians, comprising almost 9% of the population.

Beloved Bishop Dies in Zimbabwe

CATHOLIC INFORMATION SERVICE AFRICA, March 15 — Bishop Helmut Reckter, a veteran of the battle against minority white domination in Southern Africa, has died at 70.

Bishop Reckter was appointed in 1986 as first bishop of Chinhoyi Diocese. He is the third bishop in that country to die of natural causes in the past year, the news service noted, leaving three Catholic dioceses vacant. Gweru Bishop Francis Xavier Muga-dzi died in February and Harare Archbishop Patrick Cha-kaipa in April 2003.

Controversial Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe sent a message of condolence to local Catholics.

“Bishop Reckter's commitment to the people was tested during our struggle for liberation when he consistently sought ways of achieving peace and freedom for the oppressed,” said Mugabe, a Catholic who has been roundly criticized by Church figures for seizing land from productive white farmers and provoking the current famine in that country.

Korean Church Protests Impeachment

MISSIONARY NEWS AGENCY, March 15 — The Catholic bishops of Korea have expressed their concern over the political crisis in that majority Christian country, resulting from the impeachment motion approved by Korea's Parliament against its president, Roh Moo-hyun, a Catholic.

“The current political situation is causing serious grief to the South Korean population and the Church is praying for a prompt resolution,” Father Paul Chang Woung Lee, assistant secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, told Missionary News Agency. “The people are very disappointed and concerned and the situation is becoming dangerous; the South Koreans particularly fear the impeachment of Roh could unleash a serious economic crisis and consequentially the loss of numerous jobs.”