Pope Francis launches another appeal to ask that “all means be used to solve the humanitarian crisis” in Iraq, in a letter signed on the 8th of August and delivered in the past few days to the Iraqi President Fuad Masum by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Pope’s personal envoy in the Middle Eastern country. In the letter, the Argentinean Pope reiterates his “pain” for “the brutal suffering of Christians and other religious minorities”. Cardinal Filoni, who arrived back in Rome last night, was received in an audience with the Pope today, in order to report on the mission.
“I address you with a heart full of pain as I follow the brutal suffering of Christians and other religious minorities, who are forced to leave their homes while their places of worship are destroyed”, writes the Pope in the letter that was published today by the Presidential office in Baghdad. “In this context, I have asked Cardinal Filoni”, who has already been the apostolic nuncio in Iraq for John Paul II and was later in the service of Benedict XVI, to “come to Iraq to express worry, mine and of the whole Catholic Church, for the suffering of those whose only desire is to live in peace, harmony and freedom in the land of their ancestors.” After remembering the efforts of the last few years to set Iraq on the track of peaceful coexistence, whereby members of religious minorities are considered citizens on the same level as others, “I renew my appeal to all men and women who hold political responsibilities”, writes the Pope, “so that they use all their means to resolve the humanitarian crisis.” The Pope adds that “in these tragic moments, I ask His Excellency to receive Cardinal Filoni as my personal envoy, expressing my gratitude for all that the Iraqi people can do to alleviate the sufferings of their brothers and sisters”.
It was the same Prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) who announced, in the past days, that he has delivered the Pope’s letter on the occasion of his meeting with the Iraqi president. He told Vatican Radio on the 19th of August that “the meeting was very friendly. I was accompanied by the Chaldean Patriarch Sako, the apostolic nuncio and Monsignor Warduni. I delivered the letter, which the President will then answer to. I have spoken about my experiences in these days and highlighted that my visit was not political, but rather humanitarian, on behalf of the Holy Father, and that is the reason why my first destination was Ebril, where the situation in Kurdistan is still very critical, and then to Baghdad where I would have this meeting”. Filoni explained that “the Holy Father, before situations of such serious emergency, does not hold back when there is a possibility to intervene, in order to highlight how much he takes the situation of these poor people at heart. The situation here in Iraq is not only a tragedy for the Iraqi population, for our Christians or for the Yazidi, but it also concerns all men and women who care about humanity”. Cardinal Filoni had left for Iraq on the 12th of August.
After the audience that the Pope granted him this morning, Cardinal Filoni , who came back from Baghdad yesterday, has told Vatican Radio in the early afternoon that "the Pope wanted to welcome me immediately, showing his sensitivity, to learn directly from me what I have seen and heard after visiting our Christians and the Yazidi in Iraq this week. The Pope was very attentive; he preferred to listen and allowed me to speak a length, obviously taking to heart all the situations I told him about: the expectations of our Christians, the worries and the plans of the Church. He learned with pleasure about the course of action that was taken by the local Church. I can say that the meeting was good; the Holy Father was very attentive and participative towards what I told him." According to the Prefect for Propaganda Fide, "our Christians, many of whom would like to go back, wish to see that the villages, if they were to return to them, have a safety belt; they ask that it be organised internationally if possible, so that it can guarantee their ability to lead a normal life again".
Fides, the news agency of Propaganda Fides itself, reports moreover that the Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, announced that the government of the autonomous Region in the North of Iraq is ready to open its doors to the Christian volunteers among the Kurdish armed forces, equipping them with the means to create self-defense contingencies in their villages and defend themselves against the Jihadist militias of the Islamic State (IS). Barzani received Cardinal Filone on August 14.
