CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Iraq has written a letter urging government officials to \u201cwaste no more time\u201d in electing new leaders, and lamented the grim possibility of finding a peaceful solution to conflict.<\/p>\n\t\u201cOnly the president of the parliament was elected and later, maybe next week, there will be an election for the President of the Republic and also the prime minister,\u201d Patriarch Sako told CNA July 16, following the July 15 election of Salim al-Jubouri as the new speaker of Iraq\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBut you know many cities are not controlled by the government. It\u2019s really chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSalim al-Jubouri\u2019s election marks the end of a three-month deadlock in Iraqi elections, which has remained drawn out in wake of the attacks insurgents with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have made to seize a sizeable amount of territory in north-western Iraq.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere is a political solution\u201d to the violence, Patriarch Sako affirmed, stating that \u201cif they wanted to form a government of national unity they can,\u201d however \u201cit\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe jihadists, the extremists are controlling several of the capital cities, so the government should have a professional army\u2026to put them away, to change them,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\tMembers of ISIS, a militant group that operates in Iraq and Syria with the aim of establishing a caliphate in northern Syria and Iraq, overtook the country\u2019s second-largest city, Mosul, and the city of Tikrit, 95 miles north of Baghdad, on June 10.<\/p>\n
\tThe group had seized portions of Ramadi and Falluja earlier; Tal Afar was seized by ISIS June 16; and the group briefly held parts of Baquba, 37 miles outside of Baghdad, the following day.<\/p>\n
\tISIS currently controls much of the Sunni areas of northern and western Iraq, as well as cities along the Euphrates river in northwest Syria.<\/p>\n
\tIn his July 16 letter to members of Iraqi parliament, the patriarch joined his voice to \u201cthe honorable Shiites and Sunnites\u201d in \u201cbegging\u201d officials \u201cto accelerate the elections of the three presidencies to save the country from the dangers of and disorganization and loosing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tReferring to the elections as a \u201cnational, historical and moral responsibility,\u201d he encouraged parliament to \u201cstart in presenting some \u2018giving ups,\u2019 and work hard to elect the three presidencies very quickly because the lives of the Iraqis and the unity of Iraq is in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe future is very fragile, is very critical,\u201d the patriarch told CNA, \u201cand in some cities Christians are very few. For instance in Mosul they left the city, there are only about 200 people, individuals, and now really immigration is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNow really the situation is not stable, the future is unknown, and everyone is waiting, not only Christians, but also Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAccording to U.N. figures, acts of violence and terrorism have killed at least 2,400 Iraqis and 1,500 civilians in June alone. The violence has also driven more than 1 million people from their homes.<\/p>\n
\tKurdish forces have separately moved into cities like Kirkuk and other areas abandoned by the Iraqi Army. BBC news reported Monday that a political rift has opened between Iraq\u2019s Kurdish leaders and others in the government headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSo Christians are a minority and they want a solution, but where is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn Iraq it\u2019s a little bit difficult,\u201d the patriarch noted, stating that \u201cReally for the moment I am not feeling that\u201d a peaceful solution is possible, because \u201cthe culture is a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn his letter to parliament, Patriarch Sako encouraged officials to pray together at the beginning of their next meeting that God help them to \u201cuse the dialogue between us and that we may understand each other to resolve the misunderstanding between us, far from restriction and sectarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGod help us to spread the peace and tranquility between our people, so that Iraq may come out from its problem victorious. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vatican City, Jul 17, 2014 \/ 05:54 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Iraq has written a letter urging government officials to “waste no more time” in electing new leaders, and lamented the grim possibility of finding a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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