Canon Andrew White, better known as the "Vicar of Baghdad", has praised Donald Trump for his actions in the Middle East and said that under the new U.S, president, there is finally "hope" for persecuted Christians.
In a recent video message titled "Why I Like Donald Trump", White, the founder of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, said that the world has "got to get to grips with the fact that there is a new president."
"There is very much hope for the persecuted Christians in the (Middle East) region," he adds.
"It's very interesting that even though President Trump had said no Iraqis were allowed into America, it now looks he's gone back on that original issue, and he's allowing the Iraqis in because he acknowledges how much the Iraqis did in the combat of 2003 and held close the Americans and the Iraqis who were working together. So there are positive things there."
The 53-year-old minister, who is widely respected for his peacemaking efforts between Christians and Muslims, said he hopes to soon travel to the United States and visit Patrick Henry College, a Christian school in Northern Virginia.
As reported, White was ordered by Archbishop of Canterbury to leave his church, St. George's Church, in Baghdad in December of 2014 as Christians in Iraq came under increasing threat from the Islamic State terrorists.
Currently, the British clergyman serves in Amman, Jordan, where he ministers to Christian families who sought refuge in Jordan after fleeing IS attacks in Iraq. He also serves in Jerusalem for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
Last year, White was suspended from his own charity over payments made to free sex slaves seized by IS. At the time, the minister revealed that he had been suspended in relation to "some inaccurate statements I made about our work with and funding for the former slave girls taken by ISIS".
Addressing some allegations, he added: "What is clear is that at no time did we pay money to any terrorists."
In a Facebook post from last year, he wrote that the charity was involved in working with "women and girls who have been rescued as sex slaves". According to reports, ISIS abducted thousands of women and girls as young as nine and made them sex slaves for the group's fighters.
On its website, White's charity says: "Our reconciliation work is focused on bridging the sectarian divide through interfaith dialogue." The organization also says it "provides emergency relief to Christians and other persecuted minorities in Northern Iraq, as well thousands of Iraqi refugees who have fled to Jordan to escape the sectarian violence. In addition to spiritual support we provide food, medicine and shelter."
White's charity "provides emergency relief to Christians and other persecuted minorities in Northern Iraq, as well thousands of Iraqi refugees who have fled to Jordan to escape the sectarian violence," according to its website. "In addition to spiritual support we provide food, medicine and shelter."
