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QARAQOSH, Iraq (AP) – Pope Francis called on Iraqi Christians to forgive the injustices committed against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild by visiting the destroyed shells of churches and meeting ecstatic crowds in the historic heart of the community, which was almost wiped out by the horrific reign of the Islamic State group.
At each stopover in northern Iraq, the remnants of its Christian population turned out to be jubilant, ululant, clad in colorful clothing, even though heavy security prevented Francis from plunging into the crowd as he normally would. Nonetheless, they just seemed delighted that they hadn’t been forgotten.
It was a sign of the desperate support within an ancient community uncertain if it can hold out. Traditionally, Christian towns dotting the plains of northern Nineveh have been emptied as Christians – along with many Muslims – fled the Islamic State group’s assault in 2014. Only a few have returned home since the defeat of ISIS in Iraq declared four years ago, and the rest remain scattered elsewhere in Iraq or abroad.
Bells rang in the city of Qaraqosh upon the arrival of the Pope. Addressing a crowded Immaculate Conception Church, Francis said “forgiveness” is a key word for Christians.
“The road to full recovery may still be long, but I ask you, please, not to be discouraged. What is needed is the ability to forgive, but also the courage not to give up. Qaraqosh Church has been extensively renovated after being vandalized by IS militants during their takeover of the city, making it a symbol of recovery efforts..
For the Vatican, the continued presence of Christians in Iraq is vital to keeping alive the communities of faith that have existed here since the time of Christ. The population has grown from around 1.5 million before the 2003 US invasion that plunged the country into chaos to a few hundred thousand today.
Francis’ visit to Iraq, which was on its last day on Sunday, was aimed at encouraging them to stay and help rebuild the country and restore what he called its “complex carpet” of religious and ethnic groups.
In striking footage earlier on Sunday, Francis, dressed in white, took to a red carpet stage in a northern main town square, Mosul, surrounded by the hollowed out gray shells of four churches, nearly destroyed in the war for oust Islam. City State Group.
It was a scene that would have been unimaginable years earlier. Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, was at the heart of ISIS’s so-called “caliphate” and witnessed the group’s worst rule inflicted on Muslims, Christians and others, including beheadings and beheadings. massacres.
“How cruel that this country, cradle of civilization, has been struck by such a barbaric blow,” said Francis, “with the ancient places of worship destroyed and thousands of people – Muslims, Christians, Yazidis – who were cruelly destroyed by terrorism – and others forcibly displaced or killed. ”
He departed from his prepared speech to address the plight of the Iraqi Yazidi minority, which has been the victim of massacres, kidnappings and sexual slavery at the hands of ISIS.
“Today, however, we reaffirm our conviction that brotherhood is more enduring than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace is more powerful than war.”
The square where he spoke is home to four different churches – Syriac Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, and Chaldean – each left in ruins.
IS has inflicted atrocities on all communities, including Muslims, during its three-year rule across much of northern and western Iraq. But the Christian minority has been particularly affected. Activists forced them to choose between conversion, death, or paying a special tax for non-Muslims. Thousands of people fled, leaving behind homes and churches that were destroyed or requisitioned by extremists.
Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, has become the bureaucratic and financial backbone of ISIS. It was from Mosul’s al-Nuri Mosque that ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance when he delivered a sermon on Friday calling on all Muslims to follow him as ” caliph”.
It took a fierce nine-month battle to finally liberate the city in July 2017, in which between 9,000 and 11,000 civilians were killed, according to a PA investigation at the time.. Al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid on Syria in 2019. The war left a wave of destruction in Mosul and the north, and many Iraqis were left on their own to rebuild themselves in the midst of a financial crisis lasting several years.
Reverend Raed Kallo was among the few Christians who returned to Mosul after the defeat of ISIS. “My Muslim brothers received me after the liberation of the city with a lot of hospitality and love”, he declared on stage in front of the pontiff.
Before ISIS, it had a parish of 500 Christian families. Most have emigrated abroad and there are only 70 families left today, he said. “But today I live among 2 million Muslims who call me their father Raed,” he said.
Gutayba Aagha, the Muslim head of the Independent Social and Cultural Council for Families in Mosul, encouraged other Christians to return.
“On behalf of the council, I invite all of our Christian brethren to return to this city, their city, their properties and their businesses.”
Throughout his four-day visit, Francis delivered a message of interfaith tolerance and brotherhood to Muslim leaders, including during a historic meeting on Saturday with Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani .
In Qaraqosh, Francis urged its residents to keep dreaming and forgiving.
“Forgiveness is necessary to remain in love, to remain a Christian,” he said.
He spoke after a resident of Qaraqosh, Doha Sabah Abdallah, told him how his son and two other youths were killed in a mortar strike on August 6, 2014 as ISIS approached the city . Their death was the alarm for the other residents to flee.
“The martyrdom of these three angels was a clear warning: without them, the inhabitants of Baghdede would have remained and inevitably fell into the hands of ISIS,” referring to the name Qaraqosh used by the inhabitants. “The deaths of three saved the whole city.”
She now said it was up to the survivors to “try to forgive the abuser”.
Before leaving Qaraqosh, the pontiff signed a book of honor, writing: “From this destroyed and rebuilt Church, symbol of the hope of Qaraqosh and of all Iraq, I ask God, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the gift of peace. “
Francis ends the day with a mass in the Irbil stadium, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, which is expected to attract up to 10,000 people. He arrived in Irbil early Sunday, where he was greeted by children in traditional costume and one dressed as a pope.
Public health experts had expressed concerns ahead of the trip that large gatherings could serve as generative events for the coronavirus in a country suffering from a worsening epidemic where few have been vaccinated.
The Vatican has said it is taking precautions, including holding Mass outside in a stadium that will only be partially filled. But throughout the visit, crowds gathered nearby, with many people not wearing masks. The Pope and members of his delegation have been vaccinated, but most Iraqis have not.
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Kullab reported from Baghdad.
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