A bomb whose creation would tit the scales of global power.

A nuclear physicist who sought to redress the balance.

The bomb, a podcast from the BBC World Service.

Season two, available now.

Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saka.

My guest today has in recent years become something of a global spokesman for his people,

that is the rapidly dwindling community of Christians in Iraq.

Archbishop Bashar Warder is based in Abil, the capital of the Kurdish region of Iraq.

And from there, he has seen his fellow Christians suffer years of violence, persecution and displacement.

Of a population of some one and a half million Iraqi Christians 25 years ago,

just a quarter of a million are left. The worst violence was

meted out by the so-called Islamic State Group in Christian communities caught up in Iraq's

sectarian strife. But Shia militias have also targeted Christians. Hundreds of thousands of

them have been displaced. Those that could fled the country.

The Kaldian Catholic Archbishop has done what he could to help those who remain.

In Erbil, he's masterminded the foundation of a Christian university, a hospital and commercial activities,

to provide jobs and funds. Last year, the Pope visited Iraq, indeed Erbil, with a message of

hope and support. But those words can provide in themselves neither security nor economic sustenance

for a community in crisis. In a country and a region where Christianity has deep roots, does it have a future?

Well, Archbishop Basharad Wurda joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk.

Thank you.

Well, it's a pleasure to have you here, but I have to ask you, Archbishop, how demoralizing is it for you as the Kaldian Archbishop of Herbiel to see your Christian community

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