Iraq: Chaldean Patriarchate disowns Christian paramilitary threatening revenge against Sunnis

Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako

The Chaldean Patriarchate issued a statement yesterday after a Christian member of a paramilitary group, Ryan Salem, threatened revenge against Sunni Muslems, on a national television programme.

Such comments have "nothing to do with the Christ's moral teachings, messenger of peace, love and forgiveness", and do not represent Christians in any way, the Patriarchate said.

The patriarchal statement complained that such statements have the effect of exacerbating sectarian conflict and expressed the wish that all the basic principles of military ethics in the operations of recapture of Mosul are respected.

Sources close to the Chaldean Patriarchate reported that the immediate disavowel of the militant's statements also aim to nip in the bud misunderstandings and manipulations that could lead to reprisals against the local Christian communities.

In the past , the Chaldean Patriarchate had distanced itself against militants operating in paramilitary groups who were participating in war operations flaunting crosses, effigies of Jesus and other Christian symbols. "These are individuals who act in a bad way: the flaunting of Christian symbols is part of evil, and foments clashes related to religion, spirals of revenge and more suffering", said Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako.

On several occasions, the Chaldean Patriarchate has emphasised its distance from active armed groups that seek to claim their affiliation to the local Christian community.

Patriarch Louis Raphael has repeatedly advised Christians who wanted to participate in the liberation of the cities occupied by the Islamic State to join the national armed forces or the Peshmerga militias, from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, in order to avoid in any way the creation of sectarian militias that ultimately end up fueling what he describes as 'religious sedition'.

Source: Fides