Catholic Church in Iraq

[1] There has not been a census in Iraq since 2010, and there is no exact number of Christians in the country.

[1] All figures suggest that Catholics make up less than 1% of the country's population.

[3][4] In 2019, the Archbishop of Erbil, in Kurdistan, warned that Catholicism and Christianity in general was in danger of becoming 'extinct' in Iraq due to persistent persecution from militant Islamic groups such as Daesh.

[5] Pope Francis visited Iraq in March 2021.

[6] In July 2023, Louis Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Baghdad, announced that he would leave Baghdad for Iraqi Kurdistan after an ongoing dispute with the Iraqi government.

The modern history of Catholicism in Iraq began in the 17th century when Emir Afrasiyab of Basra allowed the Portuguese to build a church outside of the city