Sako warns against revenge attacks

The Chaldean Patriarchate has disowned threats by Christian militias to take revenge on Sunni Muslims in Mosul, as the Iraqi-led offensive targets the western part of the city, the last major stronghold of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, write Ellen Teague and Filipe Avillez.

Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako (pictured) made clear that such intimidation “has nothing to do with Christ’s moral teachings on peace, love and forgiveness”, and does not represent Christians “in any way”. The statement followed reports on national television of Iraqi Christians being prepared to take revenge and appearing alongside Sunni Muslim prisoners, allegedly collaborators with IS. The patriarch said such behaviour exacerbates sectarian tension and reprisals against Christians, who are among the 600,000 civilians trapped in western Mosul.

Last weekend, it was reported that around 30 mainly Muslim volunteers cleaned up the church of the Virgin Mary in Mosul, a former base for jihadists now under the control of the Iraqi army. They removed debris and tried to eradicate IS writings.

Meanwhile, Lisbon Patriarch Cardinal D. Manuel Clemente, blessed a pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fátima on Sunday, which is to be sent to the Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. Around 4,000 people, including President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, attended the open air Mass, held in the town of Cascais during which hundreds of children were invited to place handmade rosaries and other objects at the feet of the image. These will be given to Iraqi Christian children. The idea of sending the image arose when the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, visited Portugal and celebrated Mass in Cascais, near Lisbon. Local priest Fr Nuno Coelho asked him if there was devotion there to Our Lady of Fátima: “He said there was. I asked if they would like an image of her and his eyes welled up with tears,” said Fr Nuno.