BAGHDAD — The spiritual leader of Iraq’s Catholics made a Christmas appeal Monday for all those who have fled Iraq to return and help rebuild their shattered homeland, acknowledging that fear still persists even as the country enjoys one of its most peaceful holiday seasons in years.
Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Church, told The Associated Press at his guarded compound in west Baghdad that his message was one of love and charity for everyone. “And for the emigrants to return home, to work for the good of their country and their homeland despite the situation which their country is in — that is my hope.”
Sectarian violence in Iraq has declined largely because of an influx of thousands of U.S. troops, the help of Sunni Arab fighters who have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and are now funded by the U.S., and a cease-fire by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.
The issue of how to reintegrate the growing number of Sunni Arabs joining the volunteer forces looms for 2008. There are about 70,000 members of groups known as Awakening Councils, and their numbers are increasing fast.
The Shiite-dominated government is concerned about the groups, many made up of former Sunni insurgents who once battled the American forces and their Shiite allies.
The holiday season has been peaceful. Last December, more than 2,300 people died in war-related violence, compared with about 540 so far this month, according to an Associated Press count. Violence has fallen nationwide by 60 percent since June, according to U.S. military figures. But few Iraqis dare stray too far from home.
Less than 3 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people are Christians — the majority of whom are Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics. Christians have often been targeted by Islamic extremists, forcing tens of thousands to flee and isolating many of those who remained in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints.
