Chaldean Catholics, Iraq’s largest Christian denomination, canceled this year’s Easter celebrations to protest the president’s decision to revoke Chaldean Cardinal Louis Sako’s title as bishop. The Chaldean Catholic Church is an ancient Eastern rite church in full communion with the Holy See. The move underscores political tensions between groups linked to Iran-backed militias and those who oppose them amid concerns about their growing dominance in government and daily life.

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Baghdad announced on Monday that Easter Sunday in Iraq this year will be celebrated only with prayers, saying all celebrations, mass ceremonies and processions, media coverage and receptions by government officials will be canceled in order to In solidarity with Chaldean Catholic Cardinal Louis Sacco. Easter is considered the most important holiday in the Christian calendar, celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Chaldean Catholics in Iraq said they protested last July when Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid stripped Sako of his title as bishop. In protest, the cardinal moved from Baghdad to Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdistan autonomous region, that same month, where he was welcomed by Kurdish leaders.

Critics say Rayan al-Kildani, a rogue Christian lawmaker and militia leader with close ties to Iran, influenced the president’s decision. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Kildani in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses, while others have accused him of seeking control of Chaldean church assets, including those overseen by Cardinal Sako.

Nadine Maenza is president of the Washington-based Secretariat for International Religious Freedom. It encourages improvements in religious freedom in 40 countries around the world, including Iraq. She told VOA that the cancellation of Easter celebrations in Iraq illustrates the growing pressure Christians and other minority groups face as Iran’s influence grows in the country.

“The situation for Christians is very serious,” Maenza said. “Iranian militias once posed a threat as non-state actors, but now they also have a troubling influence on the Iraqi government itself. So we’re seeing a very hostile environment for Iraq, and that’s how Cardinal Sako left Baghdad and moved into Kurdistan regional reasons. What is troubling is what this means for one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.”

Sacco was not only instrumental in getting Pope Francis to make a landmark visit to Iraq in 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, but it was a huge success. He told VOA that the pope’s visit left a deep impression on ordinary Iraqis, but now has a different government because of Iran’s influence. Sako has spent years campaigning for equal civil rights for all religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq. He hopes a visit to Washington next month by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani might bring benefits.

“The situation is very critical and Christians have no confidence in the future because there is no vision and plan to truly change the state of true rule of law, democracy, respect, so that everyone can live with dignity and freedom,” Sacco said. “Christians are still leaving the country because there is no action, only promises. The Prime Minister is visiting the United States. I hope they can do something and ask him to work for the welfare of Christians and allow Christians to stay in their land and hopefully and Live on their land.” Dignity and freedom. The people of Iraq are different and they are very good to us. The pope changed his mind during his visit. They showed us their unity, but the political class did not. ”

Meenza warned that if a prominent Christian leader like Sako found the threat from Baghdad difficult enough to force him to move to Kurdistan, “imagine the vulnerability that other Christians would feel due to the growing threat from Iranian-backed militias.”

Commenting on the current political situation, Greg Kruzek of Pennsylvania State University in the United States wrote: “Iraq’s larger political forces will not make decisions that benefit minority groups. Their decisions based on mutual competition will often Adversely affects minorities.” Christians and other minorities. ” His remarks appeared in online academic Minerva’s Duck publication.

Before the U.S.-led invasion, there were about 1.5 million Christians in Iraq, but years of sectarian violence have reduced the number to about 150,000, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2022 International Religious Freedom Report.