For First Time in 3 Years, Iraqis Celebrate Palm Sunday In ISIS-Devastated Church

Iraqi Christians exiled by ISIS celebrated Palm Sunday in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the town of Qaraqosh for the first time in three years.

The Islamic extremist group retreated out of the town in October 2016, but its Christian residents have yet to return, as it is only 20 kilometers away from the city of Mosul, which is still partially in the hands of the jihadists. In late October, Reuters reported that Christians returned to the church for mass for “the first time since it was recaptured.”

A report from Reuters yesterday spotlighted how “hundreds arrived in cars from Erbil, the main city in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan where most Christian had fled when Islamic State gave them an ultimatum to pay special taxes, convert or die.”

The press agency pointed out that “scribbled ‘Islamic State’ slogans could be still seen on the church’s walls while torn-up prayer books littered the floor.”

The Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Butrus Moshe, offered the Sunday Divine Liturgy, which marks Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago. He was crucified days later, and then rose from the dead.

Iraqi Christians walked through the ruined town after the liturgy “holding up a banner saying ‘In times of war we bring peace.'”

Reuters quoted from one of the Christians, who decried the situation in Qaraqosh.

“Almost 75 percent of houses were burnt so if people return where can they live?” said Aziz Yashou, a worshipper. “We call for an international protection in order to live here.”

[image via screengrab]