IRAQ, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN

The Republic of Iraq, located in the Middle East, is bordered by on the north by Turkey, on the east by Iran, on the southeast by Kuwait, on the south and southwest by Saudi Arabia, and on the west by Jordan and Syria. Predominately a desert, the region rises to mountains and desert plateau in the north and falls to grassy wetlands in the south. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers cross the region from north to south, although the water, highly saline, is no natural aid to agriculture. Winters are mild, with melting snows causing flooding in the south, while summers are hot and dry. Sandstorms and dust storms are common in the central region. The greater part of Iraq's economy is derived from its petroleum reserves, while other natural resources include natural gas, phosphates and sulphur. Agriculture, which employs most of the nation's work force, includes such crops as wheat, barley, rice, dates, cotton, vegetables and livestock.

The heart of Iraq, the "cradle of civilization," is the Tigris-Euphrates basin, ancient mesopotamia, which was ruled successively by Babylonians, Assyrians, Achaemenid Persians, Seleucid Greeks, Parthian and Sassanid Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Safawid Persians and Ottoman Turks. A British mandate from 1920 to 1932 and a constitutional monarchy beginning in 1921, Iraq became a republic in 1958 under a series of military governments. In July of 1979 Saddam Hussein gained control, and began a series of aggressive maneuvers in the

Middle East that ultimately resulted in the involvement of U.S. troops to repel Iraq's invasion of neighboring Kuwait in 1991. Hussein's acquisition of long-range missiles and his support of terrorist activities caused him to remain a threat to world peace. An international trade embargo was levied against the region in 1991, although an oil-for-food program initiated by the United Nations in 1996 helped to counter the economic hardship to the region's civilian population.

History . Iraq was invaded by Arab forces in the 7th century, and was incorporated as part of the Ottoman Empire in 1534. Islam remained the predominate influence, despite the occupation of British forces during World War I. A British-backed monarchy lasted from 1921 to 1958, during which time Catholic and other Christian faiths gained strength in the region. Although Islam was the state religion, religious liberty was guaranteed by the constitution of 1921 and maintained by the monarchy.

Most Iraqi Catholics were of the Chaldean rite, while non-Catholic Christian communities included greek or thodox, jacobites, nestorians and Protestants. The majority of Catholics lived in the north of Iraq, as well as in Baghdad. Reflective of the concerns of the period, a Chaldean synod of 1957 dealt with administration, discipline, liturgy and Catholic Action. Iraq established diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1966.

The monarchy of King Faisal I fell in 1958, and a coup ten years later brought a militaristic government to power. Quashing sporadic struggles for independence by the region's Kurdish population in the north teamed with the government's ongoing repression of Iraq's Shi’a Muslim leadership and militaristic foreign policy to create a climate of intolerance, the government acted against criticism of its policies by outspoken religious leaders and others. Sunni Muslims, although a minority of the population, continued to act as the country's elite, with an influential role in both government and business.

Their brutal repressions against Shi’a Muslims, as well as against other faiths, resulted in violence to both Church members and Church property. Assyrian Catholics came under increasing fire during the late 1980s when the government suspected them of aiding Kurdish rebels in the north, and in 1988 many Assyrian churches were destroyed by the military. In addition, increasing Islamic fundamentalism during the 1990s resulted in a number of incidences of mob violence against Catholics and other Christians living in the north. Neither the Chaldean nor the Syrian rites were recognized by the government as religions, although they were known to be the descendants of Iraq's first Christian communities, their services performed in the Syriac language.

Into the 21st Century . By 2000 there were 82 parishes of various Catholic rites, tended by a total of 104 diocesan and 26 religious priests. Other religious in the country included approximately 20 brothers and 350 sisters, many of whom tended to the humanitarian concernsof the region. Chaldean Patriarch Raphael I. Bidawid and his bishops in particular used their influence as the largest Catholic community—Chaldeans numbered approximately 400,000 by 2000—to loudly protest both the continued international embargo of the country and the repeated bombings by U.S. troops from 1998 through 2000. Church leaders claimed that the true victims were the poor and infirm, as well as the very young. Pope John Paul II also spoke out forcefully and repeatedly against the embargo as a cause of poverty, disease and death. The pope's advocacy of peace and his public statements, such as his entreaty in April of 2001 that "innocent people should not be made to pay the consequences of a destructive war whose effects are still being felt by those who are weakest and most vulnerable" earned him the thanks of Sadam Hussein as well as the acknowledgment of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. In 1996 a U.S. Catholic group called Voices in the Wilderness defied a ban against travel to Iraq and began a continued program of bringing medicine and other aid to the region. A proposed visit to Iraq by Pope John Paul II in December of 1999 was ultimately suspended following concerns about the mixed impact the pontiff's visit would have.

Bibliography: Église vivante, 5–16 (1953–64). Bilan du Monde, 2: 486–490. Oriente Cattolico.

[j. a. devenny/eds.]