On Wednesday, 24 September 2014, HE Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, hosted a meeting with Orthodox and Catholic Church representatives in order to discuss the plight of Christian and other refugees in northern Iraq and across the region.
The group consisted of the Iraqi Church leaders in London headed by HE Archbishop Athanasius of the Syrian Orthodox Church as well as HG Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian, President of the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches.
Prayers were led by the Armenian and Syrian Orthodox Church leaders before the Cardinal convened discussion on the urgent humanitarian needs of well over 130,000 Christian and other refugees in northern Iraq; British government policy towards the region and the importance of strengthening dialogue with Muslim partners.
