Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mosul (Fides Service) - Although Ramadan has started there is no letup in violence in Iraq where five churches were attacked on Saturday 16 October, a few days after the start of the Muslim holy month. “Ramadan is supposed to be a time of prayer, fasting and charity. A time for Muslims to be reconciled with God and with humanity so why are they attacking us, threatening to kill our women if they go out of the house without a veil, kidnapping our children, why does the violence continue?” a local Catholic Sister in the northern town of Mosul where there is a large Christian community, told Fides.
“We need your prayers because life is very difficult here and we want to stay in Iraq: it is our homeland and it has been a Christians land for two thousand years ” said the Sister.
“On Sunday, the day after the attacks on churches, we, religious and lay people prayed together for peace and for God to enlighten the minds of those who perpetrate all this violence and horror”.
“Out of fear our families are keeping children at school and now our women wear headscarves like Muslim women, although they never did before. The spiral of violence does not stop. Three days ago bandits took a little boy from the arms of his mother and nothing had been heard of him since. The mother, a Christian, is out of her mind with anxiety. The situation is unbearable”.
Some say Christians are targeted not for their religion but because they are richer than others. But the Sister said that “most Christians are poor and many of the men are unemployed like the rest of the people. These attacks have nothing to do with rich or poor. These people want to destabilise the country, they have no respect for life and their aim is to cause friction between the religious communities and destroy Iraq’s tradition of peaceful co-existence of followers of different religions .” The Sister concludes: “After much prayer and deep thinking in recent days I am sure that the only solution is to increase dialogue between our Bishops and the Imam so as to convince Muslim leaders to teach peace and to say clearly that the violence must stop. For our part we wish our Muslim brothers and sisters an authentic, holy month of prayer and reconciliation with God and with those who do not share their faith, for the good of our country Iraq”.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 20/10/2004 righe 37 parole 373)
