Iraqi Christian leaders limit Christmas celebrations ‘out of respect’ for Israel-Gaza war, Bakhdida fire victims

The Word | Nov. 28, 2023

Several church leaders declared they would limit Christmas observance to prayer and “church rituals” in a public address Tuesday from Erbil.

The statement, read by Greek Orthodox hierarch Ghattas Hazim, followed a Tuesday meeting called by Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako.

“We declare that the celebrations will continue,” Hazim, who serves as the Greek Orthdox Metropolitan of Baghdad, Kuwait and Dependencies, said, but that they will be “limited to prayers and church rituals out of respect for the victims of Qaraqosh and the Holy Land”. 

The churches would also not “accept congratulations” or host officials in churches on the holiday, the statement read. It was not clear which churches were represented at the meeting.

“We strongly condemn the devastating war taking place in the Holy Land, which has amounted to massacres against humanity in violation of international and humanitarian law,” the statement said. “We call on all people of conscience to demand a complete cessation of military operations and to work to achieve the two-state solution, which is a national, humanitarian, Arab and international necessity.”

The hierarchs also called for a “serious investigation” into the Bakhdida wedding fire that killed more than 100 in September and addressed Iraqi minority issues.