NOVEMBER 2014

ONE-on-ONE
Mar Sako: ‘The West is motivated by money and power’
“There’s no future for us if the Lord
does not help us.” There’s suffering
and concern — and also, some anger
— in Patriarch Louis Raphael I
Sako’s words in an October 11 interview
with Gianni Valente of the
Vatican Insider.
GV: What can be done to stop your people’s
suffering? What is your task now?
LS: The priority now is to offer comfort
to those who are suffering and
afraid, to help everyone and above all
to encourage people to persevere
and remain steadfast in their faith,
without leaving their land. Staying
put. Those who want to of course.
We do not wish to force anyone.
But it is our duty to direct people
towards the path laid out in the
Gospel. Those who leave must be
aware that the West is not a promised
land, let alone Paradise.
GV: But many just want to run away.
LS: We are being tested right now.
Each of us is called to look into our
hearts and we may discover that
the Lord’s consolation is the only
source of strength and the only
treasure. It is the thing that is most
dear to us. But many fall victim
to this leaving frenzy. They don’t
even stop to think about what is
really going on in their lives. They
seek a future. But for those who
have the gift of faith, hope for a
better future cannot just be about
seeking a more comfortable life.
GV: But one Bishop in the United States
is negotiating with the White House to try
to arrange for tens of thousands of Chaldeans
to move over to the U.S.
LS: He is also not experiencing firsthand
what we are experiencing. In
America they put baskets with asylum
request forms on church altars
during mass. As if the migration of
thousands of Iraqi Christians to the
U.S. was something to ask God’s
blessing for. That’s a strange thing to
do and only confuses people’s faith.
Unfortunately, some members of the
clergy turn into businessmen instead
of remaining shepherds of souls. They
think in business instead of evangelical
terms, even in relation to faithful.
To some they are just numbers who
can help priests beef up numbers of
Catholics in the areas over which
they have jurisdiction. They have
them transferred from one bleak situation
to another, which may even be
worse in the long run. Migrants are
left to their own devices and are not
offered adequate pastoral care.
GV: What do you wish to say to those
who want to leave?
LS: I repeat: Each Christian needs
to look inside him or herself and ask
themselves what future it is they are
seeking. They need to try and feel
Mar Louis Sako: ‘Many fall victim to this leaving frenzy’.
God’s love in this situation. Ask
themselves what the Lord is asking
from them in that moment and maybe
realize that we have a future here
in this devastated and blessed land
of ours. And that the whole country
represents our mission.
When Kurdish President Barzani
came to meet us with Hollande, he
said to us: you must be patient, you
must stay. You must learn from us
Kurds who have suffered but now have
rights. Learning perseverance. This
would also be good for us Christians.
GV: Meanwhile, U.S.-based Christian
groups are looking for — and claim
to have found — proselytes in refugee
camps. Even non-Christians.
LS: This is awful. It is immoral. They
take advantage of a people’s difficulties
and suffering. They also think in
business terms, like religious managers
hunting for clients.
GV: Armed groups passing themselves
off as “Christian militia” have been forming,
in order to fight the Islamic State’s
jihadists. What is your view on this?
LS: To any politician, Christians included,
who ask me, I always say: If
some Christians want to help defend
and fight for the liberation of land
conquered by the jihadists, then they
should join the Kurdish or the Iraqi
national army. Creating “Christian
militia” groups which identify themselves
in ethnic-religious terms is not
only illegal, but madness and pure
suicide.
GV: The U.S. has begun an armed
intervention with the “coalition.” Something
similar has already happened in
Iraq.
LS: All this looks to me like a dirty
political game. Bombing these jihadists
will not make them disappear,
that’s for sure. Many innocent individuals
risk being killed. Infrastructures
are destroyed and will remain
destroyed. The Americans have already
done this: They destroyed the
country and did not rebuild it. The
most serious part of it all is that now
everyone is saying the war is going to
go on for years. This sends out two
different and very dangerous messages
simultaneously. The message to jihadists
is: Don’t worry, you have plenty
of time to get organized, get more
money together and enlist more paid
militants. The message to the refugees
is: This situation’s going to go on for
years, the only future you have is away
from here, away from your homes. It’s
best if you leave if you can. If we are to
really get rid of extremist groups once
and for all, we have to work on education
and training and come up with
plans that show how false and
monstrous this bloodthirsty
ideology really is.
GV: Meanwhile, some in the
West have made stereotypical
references to a clash of civilizations,
portraying Muslims as enemies
of the Western civilization.
LS: The reality is that all
the West is motivated by is
money and power. For years,
this entity that calls itself the
Islamic State has been kept
going with money and weapons
that come from the West’s
so-called “friends.” With their
secret services they can find
out anything they want about
each and every one of us,
whenever they want. How is it
possible that they don’t know
where weapons pass through
or to whom they are selling oil
to today? The U.S. took action
when two poor Americans were
beheaded. But what about all those
Syrians, Iraqis, Christians and Muslims
they killed before then?
GV: Is there anything in all of this that
brings you some hope?
LS: Last week in Baghdad, a group
of priests, including myself, carried
out spiritual exercises together. Our
priests perform miracles despite the
situation we find ourselves in: liturgies,
catechism, social activities
and charity initiatives, theater ... so
many great things. Today we ask the
Lord to console people, to give them
patience and help them not to lose
hope. This is the most important
thing right now.
Vatican Insider. Reprinted with
permission of the Assyrian
International News Agency, aina.org.
20 CHALDEAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2014