Christians in Iraq are hopeful that new Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako will stem the tide of Iraqi Christians leaving the country.
Since 2003, Iraqi Christians have been subject to attacks by groups labelled as terrorist organizations. Thousands of families have been forced to leave their homes in central and southern Iraq for the Nineveh plains or cities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Others emigrated to Europe, the US, Canada and Australia. Christian statistics show that 15,000 families have left the center and the south, heading toward Iraqi Kurdistan or abroad.