Iraqi Christians cannot go home

There is a growing danger to Christians in Iraq. many cannot return home due to escalating violence.Places of worship have been closed and the exodus of Christians continues.

ROME (CNA) - Father Zacaria Sulaqa of Basora said this week the Christian community in his region "has almost disappeared. Of the nearly 10,000 Christian families once there, only some 500 remain."

The SIR news agency reported that the "embargo and the difficulties Christians face living the region are the reasons they leave. City officials' offer of police protection for Christians is not enough to remedy the situation."

"Some families have returned to the neighborhoods in Dora with the hope of returning to their own homes that they abandoned because of violence between Sunnites and Shiites. Here many homes have been pillaged and illegally occupied. In Dora, seven places of worship have been closed," Father Sulaqa said.

In Mosul, "at least 2,500 students that live in Christian enclaves near the city are concerned because they cannot continue their studies because the road to the school is very dangerous," he added

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