the church
the martyrs of baghdad

Lights from the Orient
500 victims and 150,000 refugees…. Their pastors tell the story of why a community founded by Saint Thomas is risking extinction in a country where aggressions and threats are daily fare, yet these Iraqi Christians continue to bring their testimony of faith   

by Luca Pezzi

Chourik Bagrad, the Christian killed in Mosul on January 15th, was the owner of a garage. He was 36 years old, shot in the head execution-style, according to the story reported by the Washington Post. Again in Mosul, at the beginning of January, another Christian, an engineer from the water department, was kidnapped and released after four  days. He was saved because his family paid a ransom of $50,000. Nobody claimed the kidnapping. The violence and threats are similar to those of last autumn, to those that gave rise to a new wave of Christians abandoning their homes to move elsewhere, to emigrate abroad (to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey) or to “safer” parts of Iraq, maybe to the North, involuntarily participating in the Iraqi Kurdish dream: a zone of Christian villages cushioning itself from the rest of the country, strengthening their own independence. Political interests mix with Kurdish integralism, Shiites and Sunnis, criminality and the religious factor. In short, this is a country where disintegration is still in the air.
The Mosul Blow. Just before Christmas, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. government agency that monitors religious freedom, released its annual report, paying particular attention to the situation in Iraq. “Even though there has been a substantial decrease in violence compared to the last report of May 2007, there have been continuous targeted aggressions, threats, and intimidations toward those belonging to religious minorities…” Traces discussed this with two Chaldean bishops, the Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni and the Archbishop of Kirkuk, Louis Sako, when they were in Rome from January 19th to the 24th for an ad limina visit of their Church (it was also an occasion for a meeting that was hosted by the CL Roman Cultural Center, where we met them).
“The Christian situation, as that of all Iraqi citizens, is not good even though it has improved in the last two or three months,” explains Shlemon Warduni. “Every once in a while, a blow is given to the Christians in particular.” Warduni Shlemon was born in 1943, entered the seminary at 11 years of age, and ever since 2001 supports the Patriarch of Baghdad. “A year ago, the Christians of Dora were forced to emigrate, to become Muslim, and to give their children to the principles of terrorist groups.” Once the tension decreased, the question of human rights of Article 50 for the provincial elections was opened: “They promised to give us three seats in Baghdad, three in Mosul, and one in Basra, but they did not. They say, ‘Be peaceful, work hard, and be loyal’–the Arabs want us on their side, but they are afraid that with our seats we might support the Kurds. What have we done wrong? They removed our rights due to political reasons and gave us, again, a seat in the three cities as charity.” Bishop Warduni’s voice is tired. He speaks slowly, his voice broken by nervous coughing. “In this time of siege, the country is destroyed and so is the Church. We are assisting a mass emigration. Every day, one family leaves the country, one prepares itself to leave, and another sells the house. We do not know if, in 20 years’ time, there will be any Christians left. This is why we insist on peace–peace and peace again–and on safety, human rights. Democracy and freedom must be taught; these concepts cannot be imposed. Often, freedom is understood as freedom to kill, to steal, to carry out kamikaze attacks or car bombings. But this is slavery.” Then the “blow” of Mosul: “250,000 families were forced to flee abroad or to the North, to Kirkuk, Erbil, Dahuk, and a few to Baghdad. Some where killed. We cried, we protested, and finally the Prime Minister sent the army from the South.” The situation has improved; many have come back, but the trend has slowed down ever since mid-November, following an attack that left two Christian children dead. It is not only pain, but also “the compassion of many Muslims that invite people to remain; they say, ‘We will protect you.’”

Thomas’ Heirs. More or less during the first century, the Iraqi Church has rooted itself in the preaching of Saint Thomas. This is biblical land, known to the Christians for its stories from the Old Testament, such as that of Nineveh-Mosul and of Jonah. There are seven Chaldean dioceses. Kirkuk’s diocese counts 7,000 worshipers and Sako has been Archbishop ever since 2003. “We have a lot of relations with the Muslims, with the political and religious leaders. We are a bridge for all of them. When there is a problem, we readily mediate.” Violence began at the end of 2005, and for various reasons: “The partnership with the Americans, the presence of thieves looking for money, fundamentalism, and resistance. Ever since then, there have been threats, torture, and murder. There is no safety and people are frightened of the future. There have been three wars in 12 years! They believe that people cannot live in peace anymore in Iraq and they find refuge elsewhere. Christians are easy targets because they do not have their own military force and they are not a tribe. Christians are not protected from all of this, so, if threatened, either they pay or they are murdered. Sometimes they pay and are killed anyway.” Since 2003, more than 500 Christians have been killed, among whom were four priests and Faraij Rahho, Bishop of Mosul. “In 2006, violence reached its peak with 20,000 people forced to abandon their homes.”

The Pope’s Embrace. Before 2003, the Christian population made up 3% of the whole of the country. Today, they represent respectively 10% and 20% in the registers of refugees in Jordan and Syria, and 35% and 64% of refugees in Lebanon and Turkey. It is not silly then to talk about the danger of the extinction of Iraqi Christians that, according to the U.S. Commission, have decreased from 1,400,000 in 2003 to between 500,000 and 700,000 today. Archbishop Sako offers slightly different information, but substantially it is the same: “We were 700,000 to 800,000; some say 1,000,000. Now we are halved. The Catholic economic and social assistance offices have done a lot by creating projects and helping the refugees.” The Holy Father “often speaks about Iraq, and the Iraqi Church feels his solidarity as a pastor, as the Father of the Church who is with those who suffer. There is an extremely strong feeling of closeness, the same closeness that we felt during the ad limina visit in our the personal and plenary meetings with the Holy Father. We were impressed by his love for our Christian minority and by the directives given in his speech. These are guidelines for work.”
Pope Benedict XVI spoke about this also in the beginning of January in front the whole Accredited Diplomatic Corp at the Holy See: “To the Iraqis, who are preparing again to take full control of their future, I offer a particular word of encouragement to turn the page and to look forward in order to rebuild without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic group, or religion.” The Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad adds, “You Westerners can inform the media so that we can re-obtain our rights, religious freedom, and the right for consciousness. You can commit yourselves to making sure that allies bring peace and security to the country before they leave. We have had our martyrs: a bishop, subdeacons, other Christians…we have churches that have been shut down and more than 20 churches have been attacked. Some priests have fled because they were threatened or kidnapped.” Our impression is that there are two Iraqs, one in the South and one in the North. “The Kurdish experience is something different because they were prepared. They had their own government for almost 10 years before the regime changed. They had their army, their ministers, so when the government changed, they were ready. There is more peace and that is the reason, but there are interests and people always want more.”
The Archbishop of Kirkuk continues, “In the North, the Kurdish government has built homes (two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom) and they were handed to the Christians, free of charge. But you must know that these villages were originally Christian. During Saddam’s reign, the Christians were moved to the big cities and now they are returning to the villages, but there is a big difference: after having lived in a city like Baghdad or Mosul, with all the services, schools, shops, etc., establishing a village of 50 families is like going backwards. There is nothing. I have always criticized the ‘Nineveh Plain’ project where some believed that all Christians should seek refuge; that is a ghetto, a trap. By nature, the Church and Christians should be everywhere. Christianity is a testimony, and therefore cannot be enclosed in one place, squeezed in like a sandwich. In any case, even if more than 100,000 of us lived in that area, we would still be a minority.”

The Strength of Martyrs. Another problem is the absence of unity–not only a national unity, but among Christians. “The Iraqi Church has a huge role to play.” This is why the Archbishop of Kirkuk is promoter of a Synod for the Churches of the Middle East, such as that of Asia and Africa. “We are a minority and we do not have the competence to build a general Synod, to carry out a pastoral and liturgical reformation and to create directives for dialogue with Islam. As a historical Church, we urgently need help from the Mother Church, the Catholic Church, in order to give new vigor to our reality.”
The Iraqi Bishops met Pope Benedict XVI on January 24th. They brought with them the cape of the Bishop of Mosul, killed last year, and the stole of Father Ragheed Ganni, assassinated in 2007. “They donated them to a touched  HolyFather, who commented, “The witness they render to the Gospel is an eloquent sign of their lively faith and of the strength of their hope.”