Intervention of H. B. Mar Gewargis SLIWA, Metropolitan of Baghdad and Iraq (IRAQ)

I am glad to bring to you the greetings and prayers of our Patriarch His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV.
All the Christians in the Middle East and especially Iraqi Christian citizens have heard about these meetings. All of them consider that this is a spiritual and holy gathering and believe that whatever and whenever we ask God for their safety and happiness will be given. Thus, I think that these meetings will have great responsibility on us if nothing of what they expect has been achieved and we should be aware that their faith and their depend on the church might be affected.
Let us all with our different beautiful and holy gardens, work together friendly, brotherly and spiritually to continue watering the roots of Christianity on this our land and to rescue our world from different fearful disasters, and to live respectfully and friendly with other believers in our Almighty God wherever we live and in which country we live as good and respected citizens and to be good neighbors to those who are in need.
All the peoples of the world, all the governments, and all the church and humanitarian organizations, all over the world, know what is going on in Iraq and realize clearly the unexpected circumstances and horrible situations that are facing the Iraqi people in general, especially the Iraqi Christians since the invasion of April 2003.
The problems and sufferings of Christians in Iraq are different from those of other Christians in the Middle East countries.
We should look for and study so as to know the reasons that caused such unexpected and horrible circumstances and to recognize who is behind all this so that this conference will find the solution to put an end to what is going on in our country and to stop the Iraqi Christian citizens of thinking of fleeing the country.
The situation needs quick, wise and urgent steps and actions. Otherwise the tired and suffered Iraqi Christian citizen will depend no more and will have no hope in such meetings and will say: “Till when shall wait” and then prepare to flee his cradle of civilization and Christianity.

I take this important gathering as an opportunity to ask you, my dear brothers and sisters, according to your positions and responsibilities, to urge the international humanitarian and political organizations, to save Iraqi people in general from this destruction and to create the peaceful circumstances that will keep the existence of Christians in the country. This will help to stop the Christians' migration and will give no more headaches to those foreign west governments whether to accept these immigrants or not.
I wish this blessed gathering a very successful and fruitful outcome so as to strengthen the faith and hope of our believers in the holy church.

[00151-02.02] [DF007] [Original text: English]