VATICAN (CNS): Before returning to Rome from Iraq on March 8, Pope Francis left US$350,000 ($2.7 million) to assist families still suffering the impact of conflict or in dire straits because of the economic crisis and the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, said Louis Cardinal Sako, the Baghdad-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
The papal donation became public when Cardinal Sako published his letter thanking Pope Francis for his early March visit to the country, which, he said, touched the hearts of all Iraqis, Christian and Muslim.
Speaking to Fides, Cardinal Sako said the Catholic bishops of the country had the “joyful” duty of helping families in the pope’s name without distinguishing between families of different religions or ethnic identities.
“The donation is a sign of just how real and concrete the pope’s love for the whole Iraqi people is,” the cardinal said.
The sum has been divided for distribution, he said, with US$250,000 (1.9 million) being distributed from Baghdad, US$50,000 ($388,400) being handled by the Chaldean Church in Mosul and another US$50,000 being distributed by the Syriac Catholic archdiocese that includes Qaraqosh.
“We have already distributed 12,000 packages of food throughout the country,” Cardinal Sako said on March 31. Aid has reached families in Najaf, Basra, Kirkuk and Zakho.
