An Iraqi boy plays in front of a closed synagogue in Baghdad. This Easter was a peaceful and hopeful one for Christians in the north of Iraq and Baghdad, one of the city’s bishops has said.
Christians gathered in “crowded” churches to participate in liturgies “with joy and without any incidents of violence”, Bishop Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, said.
Themes
Holy Week services with Partriarch Louis Raphael I Sako focused on the value of mercy, embracing the themes of the Jubilee Year, Dr Warduni said.
Among the grounds for tentative optimism in Iraq now, the bishop said, is the Prime Minister’s assurance that if proper documents are presented, occupied property and stolen goods will either be returned to their rightful owners or compensation offered. If this happens it “would be a great thing for Christians”, he said.
The bishop’s comments come against a background in which Christians “lack security”, he said, and are “tired of empty promises of politicians, government and institutions”. It is thought that there may be as just 275,000 Christians remaining in Iraq.