Christianity will be reduced to a token presence in Iraq -- unless more families are given aid to return to their villages on the Nineveh Plains, according to a priest helping them home. Father Salar Kajo of the Churches' Nineveh Reconstruction Committee (NRC), which aims to rebuild nine Christian towns and villages, fears that unless more is done to enable displaced Christians to go back to their homes -- and soon -- they could leave Iraq.

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According to the NRC, 37,031 Christians have returned over the last 12 months -- but Father Kajo expressed concerns for those who are still displaced in Kurdish northern Iraq (around 120,000 Christians were driven from their homes by Daesh (ISIS) in summer 2014). He said: "We have to rebuild now -- if we take more time families will leave and Christianity will disappear from Iraq." According to Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda, up to 6,000 Christian families have emigrated over the last four years.

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Father Kajo stressed: "It is urgently necessary for everyone to return to their towns and villages" as most of the region's Christians "have spent the last three years as refugees in their own country, Iraq". The priest praised Faith-based organisations which have provided support -- but was critical of a lack of help from the international community. He said: "If the Christians do all go home this will only be because of help from organisations like Aid to the Church in Need -- because we are getting no help from governments." In 2017 Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need provided more than