Baghdad: The Chaldean Patriarch’s Cardinal Luis Zako has said that the parish of the Qur’an has been canceled this year in Baghdad for the safety of believers. He told AsiaNews that the decision to cancel the Holy Qurbana was made during a meeting with the parish clergy in Baghdad. “The decision applies to all churches,” the Chaldea Patriarchate said in a statement.
Christmas is an opportunity to pray for more and more ways to find a decent solution to the current crisis and to normalize life, according to the news release. He pointed out that security in Baghdad is very weak. Abductions, murders, and violence have become a regular occurrence. Anti-government protesters are not behind these attacks. But also infiltrators and jihadist fighters. Cardinal Sacco said that they decided to offer the Holy Mass only in the daylight on Christmas Day because of the possibility of the church being attacked.
The government is attempting to suppress the protests that began on October 1 against police corruption, unemployment and, discrimination. Following the resignation of Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, protesters are determined to continue the struggle until their demands are met. So far, nearly four hundred people have been killed and more than twenty thousand injured. Cardinal Sacco had earlier announced that he would support the movement by refusing to pay for Christmas celebrations and using the money to buy drugs for the wounded.
