by John L. Allen Jr.
ROME – After an Iraqi cardinal said Tuesday that the U.S. government has “done nothing” to aid beleaguered Christians in his country, a Trump administration official on Wednesday insisted that “the U.S. is helping a tremendous amount, by any measure.”
“We have mobilized a massive amount of resources,” said Mark Green, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, one day after the American State Department released data showing $178 million has been allocated as aid to Iraq’s Christians.
That data also asserted that the U.S. government has worked with 36 faith-based organizations, 11 local faith organizations, and 27 international organizations to provide aid, including the Knights of Columbus, of which Green is a former member.
(The Knights of Columbus are a principal sponsor of Crux.)
Green spoke to reporters in Rome, hours after he had met Cardinal Louis Rapahel Sako of Baghdad as part of a previously scheduled visit. He said that he didn’t fault Sako for speaking out, because “he should be asking tough questions.”
