ASIA/IRAQ - Chaldean Patriarchate disavows the "Babylon Brigades": no armed militia is linked to the Church

Tuesday, 15 March 2016 armed groups

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Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The Chaldean Church "has no connection, either direct or indirect, with the so-called Babylon Brigades, nor with any armed militia that presents itself as Christian". This was declared by Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I, in an official statement released by the Chaldean Patriarchate to permanently mark their distance from armed groups on Iraqi scenario that seek to claim their affiliation to the local Christian community. In the statement released on Sunday, March 13, the Primate of the Chaldean Church explicitly disavows also Chaldean notables who continue to claim alleged ecclesiastical permissions to political leadership who they claim to practice as representatives of the local Christian community. "Elderly notables (Sheikh), taking advantage of the Patriarch’s disease, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly – reads the patriarchal statement, sent to Fides - have obtained letters that attributed them powers, but since Patriarch Louis Raphael I took over his office, a letter has been sent to all civil authorities to clarify that no notable politically represents the Chaldean Church, and the only official political representatives of the Chaldean community are those legitimately elected in Parliament".
"The Christian Lions of Babylon Brigades" present themselves as "Christian citizens trained to defend the Christian cities of Mesopotamia by foreign criminal terrorists of the Islamic State (Daesh) and by terrorists from countries like Afghanistan, the Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, Turkey, Kuwait, Libya and Morocco".
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I has repeatedly stated his distance from groups that in Christian sire, Assyrian and Chaldean communities support the need to defend their communal rights and fight the jihadist forces through the formation of armed groups organized on confessional basis (see Fides 08/03/2016), reiterating that the path to follow is to eventually serve in the national armed forces. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 15/03/2016)

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