Iraqi Archbishop's Desperate Plea to British Lawmakers: "Christians Don't Have Much Time Left" Unless...

Isaiah Narciso : Feb 12, 2015
The Gospel Herald

"How bad, how evil this situation must be if this is the call of a Catholic archbishop." -Baroness Berridge

(United Kingdom)—The Archbishop of Irbil went to London on Tuesday to plead with British lawmakers and clergy to implement "military action" to save Christians and other minority groups in Iraq. (Photo: File/Iraqi Christian refugees)

According to the BBC, Archbishop Bashar Warda, who represents the ancient Catholic Chaldaean Church, told the British Parliament that Iraq's Christian population was in decline. He noted that the number of Christians in his country had fallen "dramatically" over the last decade; during the time of Saddam Hussein's rule, there were over 1.4 million Iraqi Christians.

"We don't have much time left as Christians in this region," the archbishop said. "As a Catholic, I find it hard to say, but I want military action. There is no other way now."

The BBC reported that tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians and Yazidis fled their homes back in the summer, when ISIS militants warned both groups to either renounce their faith or face death.

In his speech, Warda asked the British government to send its military to the area to take out ISIS, which has occupied the Christian villages of the Nineveh Plain according to the BBC. He begged British lawmakers "to focus on the need for military action." (Photo: Archbishop Warda/ACNUK.org)

"What we are seeing is worse for the world than what happened in Afghanistan, with more and more young people going to fight with Daesh," Warda said, referring to ISIS with the insulting Arabic name. "Military action is needed—powerful force—to get them out of our villages."

Although he described potential military action by the West as "an unfortunate solution," he reiterated that it was a necessary decision. According to B.C. of The Economist, the archbishop told his British hosts that Iraqi Christians are practical and do not sit around bemoaning their fate.

"Our people were hoping their liberation would start soon, but [the time] is getting longer, and many have left the country," Warda said.