Pope Francis is due to arrive in Baghdad on March 5, where he will be welcomed at the Presidential Palace, and later meet Christian leaders. He will visit Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential leader of Iraq’s Shiite Muslims, in Najaf and attend an interreligious meeting in Ur. He will also visit the north of the country, celebrating Mass in Irbil and saying prayers in Mosul, before departing March 8.
Iraqi Christians trace their roots back almost to the very beginning of the faith, but in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion and the rise in extremist violence, the community has dwindled.
It is difficult to know the exact number of Christians still living in Iraq, because there has not been a full census since 1987, says William Warda, who works with the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, which campaigns on behalf of minorities. Warda is a member of Iraq’s Assyrian Christian community.
He estimates there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq at the time of the 2003 U.S. invasion, citing an earlier partial census. Now, just 400,000 may remain in the country, he says, based on clergy tallies. “Every parish, every church knows the followers that belong to it,” he says.
However, Warda says church leaders may be reluctant to release official totals in order not to lose the five-seat quota granted to Christians in the 329-seat national legislature.
“It is very normal now for a Christian family to come to me and tell me they want to leave,” says the Rev. Ghassan al-Botany. He says ruefully he has no authority to tell them to stay, “but I tell them, think about it. Why? Because the Arab region lost many Christians.”
He hopes hearing something similar from the pope during his visit will strengthen people’s resolve to stay. “When these words come from a supreme authority, it has a flavor and a difference,” he says. “The Iraqi Christian loses part of his faith, part of his legacy and part of his roots when he travels outside.”
Father Ghassan says a turning point came in 2010, when militants burst into Our Lady of Salvation cathedral in Baghdad, killed two priests, and took about 150 hostages. Iraqi and American special forces burst in to free the hostages hours later, but the attack left dozens dead and the church scarred and bloodied. More than a decade later, the pope is due to visit the same church and has called for support for an enduring Christian presence in the country and the region.
“We must work to ensure that the Christian presence in these lands continue to be what it has always been: a sign of peace, progress, development and reconciliation between peoples,” Francis told a group of Catholic charities shortly after the Vatican announced plans for the trip in December.
His trip will also take him to places where very few Christians live, and most everyone is Muslim.
Culled from NPR.org
Image – Gettyimage
