D.E.P. Ibrahim Fouls*
In the days of the episcopal ordination of the new Syro-Catholic Bishop of Mosul, a delegation from the Custody visited Iraq, a country marked by the drama of the Islamic State. A visit to the Baghdad cathedral, scene of the 2010 massacre. The statue of the Virgin in Basra, where even Muslims stop to pray.
Jerusalem () – We are publishing the report on the pilgrimage of a group of Franciscans from the Holy Land led by the Custodial Vicar, Father Ibrahim Faltas, from January 31 to February 8. The occasion of the visit was to participate in the ordination of the new Syro-Catholic Bishop of Mosul and to visit some of the most significant places of the Christian presence in Iraq, a land that still bears the traces of the devastation of ISIS. Below is the testimony of Fr. Ibrahim.
A journey through time, traveling the ancient paths of the land of Abraham. Leaving Jerusalem in the morning, arriving in Amman for lunch and having dinner in Baghdad has something incredible: from the land of Jesus to Jordan, where Moses led the people of Israel to the Promised Land, to Iraq, to our origins, with a small delegation of Franciscan friars. The reason for our visit was to participate in the episcopal ordination of Msgr. Younan Hano, the new Syrian Bishop of Mosul, cousin of Fr. Haitam, one of the members of the group of “pilgrims”.
In the meeting with the Patriarch of the Chaldeans of Baghdad, Card. Louis Raphael Sako, we traveled through the sufferings of the tortured Iraqi land, of a destroyed and raped Church, of crucifixes carved in the rock that the fury of the soldiers of the Islamic State made disappear. From the suffering of the Iraqi people that he had to abandon everything, taking refuge in another place to save his own life and that of his children. In Baghdad -called Madinat as-Salam (city of peace) by Caliph Al Mansur- you can breathe the air of the capital that still bears the traces of the war that destroyed ancient and prestigious monuments that made it the second most populous city. in the Middle East after Cairo. Later, the visit to the Syro-Catholic community in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation was moving, where in October 2010 48 people, including faithful and priests, were murdered while attending mass, paying the extreme price of fidelity. Mr.
In Qaraqosh, in the Nineveh plain, we participated in the episcopal ordination, a true community celebration for all the Syrian-Catholic faithful, with more than 1,500 people in silence and prayer. And a large participation of men and young people, an aspect that struck me especially, because we are no longer used to seeing such a large group in our churches. The people of the area welcomed us like a blessing, because we came from Jerusalem, and their stories were filled with a strong and uncontrollable faith. From 2014 to 2017 they were forced to leave their homes, to abandon everything, to escape the destruction of ISIS. After these long years of hardship and terror, they returned to their town and are rebuilding their destroyed houses, their country, proud to have returned to their land, increasingly rooted in faith, and with the strong hope of starting over.
When we talk about history, in books we always refer to before and after the birth of Christ; Today in the world there is a tendency to separate the events before and after the Covid; here it is usually said before Daesh and after Daesh. The visit to the Franciscan nuns’ nursery in Qaraqosh, which coincided with my birthday, was an opportunity to say the Our Father in Aramaic with the students of the institute. A moment of devotion that surprised us by the intensity and harmony of the words transmitted by the children.
Near Qaraqosh is Mosul. The city impressed us, like the whole street we walked, which shows signs of destruction everywhere: houses, monasteries, churches, the statues of the Virgin with severed heads, historical places erased by the devastation of Daesh. But over all this destruction, the new Sanctuary of God prevails, which we have found in the faith of a people clinging to their land and which is a source of hope for all. During the trip we encountered numerous controls, but without even showing the documents, it was enough to say that we were Christians and they let us pass without problems.
When we arrived in Basra, in the south, at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, I visited the projects for children and young people carried out by the John Paul II Foundation. We met the local Archbishop, Msgr. Alnaufali Habib Jajou, who recounted the life of the local community. Then we visit the Church of the Sacred Heart, which houses a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes inside, where many Shiite faithful also come to pray. For example, they told us about a Shiite girl from a Muslim neighborhood who often stopped to pray in front of the Virgin; when asked why, the girl replied that she didn’t know who that woman was, but she never let her go empty-handed!
Finally, we made a stop at Ur of the Chaldeans and the ancient land of Abraham, the father of the three great monotheistic religions: Jews, Christians and Muslims. During the trip, the terrible news of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria arrived, the stories of the displaced people who stayed in our convents and the work of the friars for the frightened people who were left with nothing. In Ur we were received by a delegation of Shiites and for us it was like entering a page of the Bible, in the year 2000 BC. C. It was a beautiful experience, shared with my brothers and with so many people we met.
We traveled many kilometers, touching with our hands the devastating wounds of the ISIS invasion, the same wounds in Libya, Syria and the entire Middle East, which have not yet healed. Millennia of culture were erased by war, but the Lord is great, because he continually gives us the strength to get up and start over: like the Iraqi people, who experienced a forced exodus, but also a return “out of love” to their land . and to keep its roots alive. Regardless of being Christian or Shia, but united, overcoming the misunderstandings and deep wounds of the past to walk together towards unity and peace.
* Vicar General of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem
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