Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Urges Christians Abroad to Return During Meeting with Chaldean Patriarch Sako in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani met on Saturday in Erbil with Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, according to a statement from the premier’s office.

During the meeting, Barzani reiterated the importance of peaceful coexistence and called on Christians abroad to return to their homes and serve in the region. The value of living peaceably with neighbors stands out in this appeal (Romans 12:18).

The cardinal praised the Kurdistan Region as an example of forgiveness and of protecting the rights of all ethnicities, the statement said.

The meeting took place against a background of decline among Christian communities in Iraq. Those communities were most recently affected by the 2014 ISIS takeover of multiple Christian-majority towns, and they have continued to dwindle since 2003.

During his visit to the Kurdistan Region on March 7, Pope Francis told Kurdish leaders, “You have protected the Christians when ISIS attacked,” and described the autonomous region as a “home for displaced Christians.”

Pope Francis also held a Mass for roughly 10,000 attendees at a sports stadium in the region’s capital.

At a conference earlier this year on the Kurdistan Region’s future constitution, Sako called for a secular constitution that separates religion from the state.

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