Baghdad, Card. Sako: with the Pope for peace in Ukraine
Tomorrow Iraqi Christians will join the pontiff for the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to Mary. The government does not have a "clear" position on the war, it seeks to safeguard relations with Moscow and Washington. Solidarity and closeness in a letter sent to the Archbishop of Kiev. Those who have lived through the war "know what disasters it can cause".
Baghdad (AsiaNews) - Iraqis "are against the war", ordinary people "want peace" in Ukraine as in their own country, appeals for détente are multiplying on television because "we have experienced" conflicts and violence, and their consequences first hand, says Chaldean Patriarch, Card. Louis Raphael Sako. He shared his fears with AsiaNews about the new front that has opened up on Europe's doorstep following Moscow's invasion of Kiev, with the risk that it could turn into a conflict on a global scale with the use of atomic weapons.
This is why tomorrow the Iraqi Church will join Pope Francis on the occasion of the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. "We have planned a prayer service at the Marian shrine in Baghdad", explains the Chaldean Primate.
He continues that the government has "no clear position" on a war that is part of "a complicated situation at the regional and global level". The authorities in Baghdad, which boast solid economic and military ties with Washington and Moscow, "cannot make a clear-cut choice of field". However, the population "remembers the same scenario experienced 20 years ago" with the US invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime - as before with the war in Kuwait.
"At that time, I was in Mosul. We lived for over a month under US bombs" he recalls. The solution to the problem, he warns, can only pass "through dialogue". If there is no confrontation, no open exchange of positions, the damage "will affect everyone. In recent days I have sent a letter to the archbishop of Kiev expressing our solidarity and closeness. From Iraq we pray for peace, dialogue and a solution to the controversies. Anyone who has experienced war", he warns, "knows how many disasters it can cause", both on a human and material level.
In the meantime, the first consequences of the Ukrainian crisis are beginning to be seen on the economic level. In recent days, protests have broken out in the south of the country over the escalation in food prices, which local officials believe is linked to the conflict. For a week, the price of cooking oil and flour has skyrocketed in local markets, triggering demonstrations of discontent that the authorities have tried to defuse by announcing measures to support spending. The scene of the protest was the central square in Nassiriya, already the epicentre of the 2019 popular uprising against corruption that spread to most of the country.
"The rising prices are strangling us, both bread and other foodstuffs," Hassan Kazem, a retired teacher from the city, told Afp. "We can barely," he added, "make ends meet. The central government recently announced measures to limit the consequences of the global price increase, allocating an allowance of about 64 euros for pensioners with incomes below 630 euros per month; the bonus is extended to civil servants earning less than 310 euros. In addition, customs duties on foodstuffs, basic consumer goods and materials used on construction sites have been suspended for two months.
Iraqis are "tired" of the suffering they have suffered and experienced in recent years, which the various governments have tried to "address" but in practice have remained "unresolved", accumulating over time various "crisis factors". The pope's visit in March last year, still a current event, "was a message of joy, peace and coexistence" for everyone. To commemorate this event, the Patriarch concluded, "we recited the prayer of St Francis of Assisi, followed by a special prayer addressed by a Shiite, a Sunni and a Yazidi. United under the banner of peace".
