Pope Francis in Iraq: between emotion and a strong message of repudiation of violence and jihadist extremism

Julio Algañaraz

03/07/2021 14:06

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 03/07/2021 14:10

The Pope was moved on several occasions this Sunday on the last day of his trip to Iraq, contemplating the horrors of the destruction caused by the violence of Al Qaeda terrorists, who killed thousands of Christians between 2014 and 2017 in the plain of the Nineveh, where the community of Chaldean Catholics resided, the oldest and most important in the Middle East, which had more than two million members,

of which less than 400 thousand remain.

The rest died in the terrorist crackdown or fled beyond the reach of the terrorists and most do not want to return.

The most dramatic moment of the tour was lived in the ancient city of Mosul, which was the second Iraqi city with almost two million inhabitants, mostly Christians,

largely reduced to rubble by the terrorists

of the Islamic State, who attacked it. and they occupied in 2014 and were defeated only three years later after a nine-month battle that left an unprecedented balance of atrocities and destruction.

This afternoon the Argentine pontiff concluded his three-day visit to Iraq with an open-air mass in Erbil

attended by 10,000 people

, most of them Chaldean Catholics.

Bergoglio invited them "not to fall into revenge, despite the wounds caused by war and violence."

He said that these wounds "are visible and invisible" but that

one must respond

"to these painful events with human strength and wisdom."

The songs and cheers of the faithful gathered in the second largest stadium in Iraq, accompanied Francis when he arrived aboard the popemobile to the stadium, the only place where it was used because in other land movements he was transferred in armored cars for reasons of security.

The Pope in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan.

AFP photo

The bishop of Rome said in his message that Jesus "strengthens us so that we know how to resist the temptation to seek revenge, something that plunges us into an endless spiral of reprisals."

The pope later returned to Baghdad, from

where he will leave early on Monday

back to Rome.

Having arrived in the morning in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and traveled by helicopter and an armored car to the Nineveh Plain to visit Mosul, Qaraqosh and other punished Christian places, Francis said that “the tragic decline of the disciples of Christ, here and throughout the Middle East, it

is a damage and incalculable ”.

Greeted with emotion and hope by the Christians who live in the area, and who are the remains of a community that seeks to reconstitute now stimulated by the Pope's visit, Jorge Bergoglio got out of the armored car between Mosul and Qaraqosh

to bless the statue of a virgin

beheaded by the hatred of ISIS terrorists.

In mosul

Mosul was the culminating moment in the so-called square of the Four Churches, all destroyed by the so-called Islamic State commanded fiercely by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who proclaimed himself his Caliphate.

After the defeat in June 2017, Baghdadi fled and two years later was killed by a missile in Syria.

In his prayer for the victims of the Church in the shed built in the middle of the square of the Four Churches, which are being rebuilt, the Pope said: “If God is the God of life, and he is,

not

us

It is lawful for us to kill the brothers in his name

.

If God is the God of love, and he is, it is not lawful for us to hate our brothers ”.

"Here in Mosul the tragic consequences of hostility are too evident," he added. The four Christian churches that were used as prisons and places of torture before being destroyed belong to various branches of Christianity: Chaldean Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Catholic. Syriac.

The Pope in Mosul.

AP Photo

The Pope, after his prayer in memory of the thousands of victims in and around Mosul, was taken in a small electric vehicle to the Syriac cathedral, the most advanced in reconstruction, and there he remained for a while in silence,

praying in private.

Francisco commented that “a cultural and religious fabric so rich in diversity is weakened by the loss of some of its members.

Fourteen churches were destroyed in Mosul by ISIS terrorists during the occupation.

When Mosul was occupied, half a million people had to escape, including 120,000 Christians,

whom the Al Qaeda soldiers called "Nazarenes

.

"

On the fronts of their houses, fans of the self-proclaimed caliph al-Baghdadi painted the letter N. Christians were left with no choice but to flee desperately.

Many made it to neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan, where they were taken in.

The Pope thanked President Barzani in Erbil on Sunday for the solidarity of the Kurds with Christians and Muslims who were able to save his life on Kurdish soil.

In his prayer for the victims in the Plaza de las Cuatro Iglesias, Francisco commented that "the true identity of this city

is the harmonious coexistence

between people of diverse origins and cultures."

In this context, “it is cruel that this country, the cradle of civilization, has been hit by such a dehuman storm, with ancient places of worship destroyed and thousands and thousands of people, Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and others,

forcibly evicted or murdered.

.

The Argentine Pope stated that "despite everything, I have the conviction that

fraternity is stronger than fratricide

, hope is stronger than death, peace is stronger than war."

“This conviction speaks with a more eloquent voice than the voice of hatred and violence and it can never be silenced in the blood shed by those who profane the name of God by walking paths of destruction.

In the Christian city of Qaraqosh the Pope was acclaimed by thousands of faithful who welcomed him waving flags and displaying colorful clothing.

Little by little, a few hundred Chaldean Catholics are returning who had to flee hastily "on one night in August 2014" when the ISIS terrorists arrived.

They told reporters that "we left with few things, in pajamas, to save our lives."

Most of those who left do not want to return.

A family that spent three years in Erbil and recovered their home, told the EFE agency that "it was very hard, very hard and now we are safe."

“It is great to be able to see the Pope.

Many young people now live in Australia, Canada and Europe.

"We have lost many friends."

In Qurodoash, as in the entire plain of Nineveh,

people speak modern Aramaic, the same language as Jesus Christ.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception has become the recovered symbol of the rebirth pride of the Chaldean Catholics, after having been rebuilt.

This Sunday he received the Argentine Pope resplendent.

PB

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