CWN - In an interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, reiterated Pope Francis's 'very deep' concern for the Church in Iraq.
Cardinal Filoni, the author of a new book on the history of the Church in Iraq, once served as apostolic nuncio in Iraq and has twice been sent by Pope Francis as a special envoy there.
The Pontiff is concerned, Cardinal Filoni said, "first of all because at the moment, Christians along with other small minorities are the poor ones in the situation because they have had to leave everything behind, not just their homes but everything they owned, remaining with nothing but the shirt they had on their backs."
"The Pope has played an important role – and everyone recognizes this – in focusing international attention on the war" and on persecuted Christians, he added.
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