ASIA/IRAQ Lay Christian in Baghdad calls for help: “This is civil war and if it continues Christianity could very soon disappear from Iraq. Many Christian families have fled Baghdad where Christians are forced once again to worship in catacombs”

Baghdad (Fides Service) - “We have Mass in the crypts of our churches, the only places which are safe. Our lives are in danger. We ask the international community and the universal Church to help us” 30 year old Christian layman Elias in Baghdad told Fides. Elias is concerned for his community and his relatives, some in Baghdad and some in Mosul.
Elias, who is very active on the local Church, described the situation after recent attacks on Christians and Christian churches in Iraq: “We stay at home because the streets are not safe. At all hours of the day and night anti-coalition rebels attack American troops and any Iraqi collaborators with mortar shells and bomb blasts. Every day Iraqi policemen, soldiers and civilians are killed. This is civil war! People only leave the house when they have to but in fear that they will not return. Christians are even more afraid than other people and many are leaving the country”.
“When the first churches were attacked in Baghdad, many families fled to Syria and Jordan. However many others preferred to stay. They said they were not afraid to die. Iraqi Christians have already been persecuted. In 1915, in Mardine a mainly Christian town in the north where my grandparents lived, Christians suffered ethnic cleansing. In 1950 there was another persecution and today history is repeating itself. Christians here have called the 1 August 2004 when the churches were attacked, a serious act of intimidation the first in the history of Iraq a ‘day of blood’. The most recent attacks on 6 churches on October 16 show that attacks against Christians continue. Because we lay Christians help priests look after our churches, we are in danger too” Elias told Fides.
“Now we have Mass in the crypts of our churches in modern catacombs” he told Fides and launched an appeal: “The situation is unbearable, we call on the international community and the universal Church to help us! All we want is to be left in peace and tranquillity! Islamic fundamentalists who claim Iraq belongs to Muslims, want to chase us out of the country. They despise us as ‘crusaders’. Radical groups convince less violent Muslims to join them and many are instigated by their leaders. I would say that about 80% of the Mullah preach hatred and fundamentalism and this is not right. If the situation continues very soon Iraq will be a land without Christians. Please help us to stay in our homeland!”.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 25/10/2004 righe 44 parole 497)