(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 17 - The number of
Christians living in Iraq has fallen "dramatically" to roughly
200,000-230,000 at the most, Monsignor Shlemon Warduni,
president of charity Caritas' Iraq arm told Ansa on Thursday.
"We estimate that currently this is the number of
Christians left in the country," Warduni said on the sidelines
of a meeting on Syria and Iraq in the Vatican.
He added however that his organisation was unable to obtain
a more precise figure at the moment.
Christians in Iraq are among the oldest continuous
Christian communities in the world but thousands have been
forced to flee recently due to violence and persecution at the
hands of the militant Islamist group ISIS.
Number of Christians in Iraq fallen 'dramatically'-Caritas
Charity estimates only 200,000-230,000 Christians left in Iraq