Iraq's Christian population cut by half.
Prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, noted Chaldean Catholic Auxiliary Bishop
Main article: Bishop (Catholic Church)
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it Andreos Abouna of Baghdad in a recent address to British charitable groups, about 1.2 million Christians lived in the predominantly Muslim country. Since that time, roughly half of the Iraqi Christians have fled their homeland, driven out by persecution and sectarian violence Sectarian violence or sectarian strife is violence inspired by sectarianism, that is, between different sects of one particular mode of thought, not necessarily religious (e.g. . Three-quarters of Baghdad's Christians have left the Iraqi capital city.
"What we are hearing now is the alarm bell for Christianity in Iraq The Christians of Iraq number about 636,000 in 2005, representing 2% of the population of the country. They numbered over 1 million in 1980. It is one of the oldest Christian communities of the Middle East. ," stated Bishop Abouna. "When so many are leaving from a small community like ours, you know that it is dangerous--dangerous for the future of the church in Iraq." Many Iraqi expatriate Expatriate
An employee who is a U.S. citizen living and working in a foreign country. Christians have taken up residence in Syria, Jordan and Turkey, and Bishop Abouna thinks it unlikely that many will ever return. Syria, it should be noted, is widely considered a future target of U.S. and/or Israeli military strikes.
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