The Reality Of Dialogue

I will leave it to the Chaldean Patriarch to express:

Contacted by AsiaNews at the See of the Chaldean Patriarchate in Baghdad, Mar Sako bitterly said that no form of dialogue is possible with the Islamists, who keep repeating, "between us there is but the sword."

The patriarch has had to "call on the bishops to urge Christians to leave". Hence, as of yesterday morning, those left began to clear out. Now only "very few people, the poorest among the Christians" are left "because they do not have the means to escape." Those fleeing Mosul "are welcome in the monasteries, in the villages."

This morning, Mar Sako added, "cars equipped with loudspeakers are driving through the city, telling Christians to flee. At checkpoints, militias are seizing cars, money and papers from Christians, before letting them go . . . with nothing."

In this tragic context, in which Christians are being expelled, it is hard to see how talks or negotiations can be undertaken.

"There is no authority to deal with, no one," the Chaldean patriarch said. "We do not know where they came from, what they really want. . . . The central government has no contact and now has started air strikes".

Speaking about the Islamists, Mar Sako said that they are "a wall" with which "any form of dialogue" is impossible. And the situation is changing quickly, by the day, and always for the worse."

Will this reality be accepted and embraced by the world or even the politically correct crowd in the Church? I doubt it. The fundamental and eternal Truth that the Church has enemies who will always seek to destroy and/or subjugate Her is and will continue to be ignored until those enemies knock on that particular ostrich's door. "Dialogue" will otherwise be the order of the day, even as it bears no fruit to speak of.

Until then, our martyred and persecuted brethren need our prayers. Please pray for them.