Only a few years ago, in 2014, Daesh (ISIS) took the city of Mosul and in a few days the whole Nineveh plain in Iraq became prey to persecution and raids. The Christians, who have lived there since the dawn of the first millennium, were forced to flee very quickly and with them thousands of other people who were afraid of that Czech horror. Some religious minorities, such as Ezida, were not even allowed to escape. Chased and hunted, they suffered violence of all kinds.
Qaraqosh is the heart city of Christians in Nineveh. It is also called Bakdhida in Aramaic, which is the language of the Syriac Catholic community that inhabits the area. Daesh immediately occupied it, making everyone flee, except for some elderly people who remained courageously. The cathedral, large and imposing in the center of the city, was immediately set on fire. The cloister made the firing range of the militiamen. Even a short time ago it was possible to see bullet holes everywhere and black smoke on the walls of the church.
With the NGO Un ponte per… I was among the first to enter the city just released in 2017. It was spooky, with houses and sacred buildings burned down. Buildings mined and collapsed with grenades. I was with an engineer friend who entered his home for the first time, opposite the cathedral. The house had been completely ransacked. He also knew by whom. He didn’t say a word right away. Then everyone said: we will rebuild.
And so it was. The painter Thabet Mikhael was among the first to think that it was necessary to restore life and color to the city. And he started with a group of high school professors doing beautiful light-filled murals on the walls. Covering the writings praising Daesh’s death. The houses were divided into categories and with the coordination of the local church and a group of religious in a few years it was possible to make them habitable again. The city council decided to leave the mosque open, which had always been there. No more hate but coexistence.
And it wasn’t an easy choice. Many are still afraid and have never returned from abroad where they were refugees or from the safer cities of Iraqi Kurdistan. After all, the Iraqi Christian community was more than one and a half million people in 2003. Now they will be less than 500,000. It seems an exodus.
After all, not all cities are as lucky as Qaraqosh, where a lot of help has arrived. The real challenge of coexistence is in places where several communities live together. Starting from the nearby city of Mosul. Once a cultural and social center of international significance. Now fiercely marked by war. Which has hurt people’s souls.
It is no coincidence that the Dominican father Najeeb Michael was chosen as the bishop of the city. An exceptional man who has distinguished himself for years in safeguarding the artistic and cultural heritage of the Iraqi Christian community. Facing very dangerous journeys to rescue thousands of books. And of men and women. He had built two houses for displaced people in Erbil, called the vineyard and hope. Where, in addition to welcoming, cultural activities were held, books were restored, the future was discussed.
And now the visit of Pope Francis it gives shape to this future with its presence precisely in the places of persecution and with the highly anticipated celebration in the cathedral of Qaraqosh. And there is no other way for the future than that of coexistence among diversities. As the Pope had already said in Abu Dhabi.
After all, Iraq is the country of young people who are at least 60% of the population. Most live like all their peers in the world, follow social media, have cosmopolitan curiosity and skills to sell. Last year thousands were in the streets to also ask to overcome the sectarian system in politics. They need neither tutors nor help. They need opportunities in a country rich in natural resources, the heart of Mesopotamia and our civilization and full of skills.
And the Pope’s example represents a fundamental step, courageous and full of the perseverance of all the people who care about coexistence and peace not only in Iraq but everywhere.
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