One in three of the entire population of Iraq is in desperate need of humanitarian aid, according to the Pope's representative in the war-torn country.
Archbishop Alberto Ortega, Apostolic Nuncio, said that the current crisis of war will not end without a political will to end it. Christians can help bring that about, he said.
Ortega told Catholic News Agency: "If the international community, if they really want to make peace, to promote peace, they can engage more intensively and to reach the agreements necessary to reach peace."
Christians had a potentially important role to play in helping dialogue and can be agents of reconciliation.
"Even if as a number they are a minority, they can play a very important role as wielders of reconciliation, of peace, of unity, as they have done in the past. They have always been a factor of stability and a factor of development in the country."
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He was speaking at a symposium in Rome involving religious congregations and other charities working in the Middle East.
Ortega said there are 10 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, nearly one-third of the population. There are 3.5 million internally displaced and escalating tensions between different groups.
Trust has been a big issue. "At the end, mercy is the only way to reconciliation. In this aspect the Christians can play a very important role. Even if as a number they are a minority, they can play a very important role as wielders of reconciliation, of peace, of unity, as they have done in the past. They have always been a factor of stability and a factor of development in the country," he said.
He urged Christians to remain because their presence is so important for the country.
"They have a special mission of being Christians in the Holy Land, of being Christians in a context that is difficult but is very necessary."
However, an Aid to the Church in Need meeting at Parliament on the Iraq crisis yesterday was told that eight in ten Christians remaining in Iraq now want to leave.
Just a few months ago, eight in ten were committed to staying.
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