Appeals
for “honest politics” and warns against further chaos which is the “worst
enemy” for minorities.
The
head of the Syriac Catholic Church has appealed to the Trump administration for
“something real on the ground, not just words but a vision” and “honest
politics” in order to help Christians in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Speaking
to the Register at the end of the first ever government-sponsored conference for persecuted
Christians in Budapest, Hungary, Oct. 13, Patriarch Ignatius Youssef III Younan
said such an approach would allow “all citizens” to feel secure in their
countries “without discrimination.”
He
said the alternative is chaos which is the “worst enemy” for minorities as above
all it leads to a sense of abandonment, making it impossible to convince young
generations to stay.
The
Syriac patriarch also lamented how the West will only get involved if
threatened by Islamism. He also encouraged Western nations to push for
religious freedom in the Middle East, and praised Pope Francis for “doing his
best” to be a voice “like John the Baptist, shouting in the desert” on behalf
of the persecuted.
He
said the absence of Christians in the Middle East would be a loss for everyone,
not only for the Church, as its heritage is a “richness for the whole
world.”