“Since the fall of the previous regime [of Saddam Hussein], in April 2003, a normal political life has not yet seen the light in Iraq,” said Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako became Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said as he discussed “Problems of Iraqi Christians and Future Opportunities”.

Christians “are indigenous Iraqis and are not a community from another country,” he added. “They are people of this land, so it is not acceptable to label them as a ‘minority.’”