Chaldean Patriarch visits US

In the Iraq War, Patriarch Delly said both Christians and Muslims suffered, and there was damage to both Christian and Muslim places of worship. In the war's aftermath, both Christians and Muslims continue to suffer because of the lack of security, he said.

On the one hand, he said a positive aspect of the new situation is that Christians – though still a tiny minority – no longer consider themselves second-class citizens.

"We feel one family, Christians and Muslims. That is one positive point, that now the Christians feel that they are really part of Iraq, and that they are citizens of the first class," he said.

But despite good relations between Christians and Muslims, Chaldean Christians continue to leave Iraq, the partriarch continued. While under Saddam Hussein, young men would leave to avoid being drafted into the army, then later help family members join them in their new country, now families are leaving because of the unsettled security situation.

"We are doing everything (to discourage it), but it is not possible at this point. It continues, but it is not only among the Christians, not just among the Chaldeans, but among all the Iraqi population that people are leaving. We feel this especially, because we are a minority," Patriarch Delly said.