Pope prays for Iraq’s war dead in Mosul

Pope Francis has prayed for those killed in Iraq’s wars against the haunting backdrop of the ruins of four demolished churches in the northern city of Mosul, which suffered widespread destruction in the war against the Islamic State group.

As women ululated and a white dove was released in a sign of peace, Francis inaugurated a memorial to the dead on the final day of his visit to Iraq.

In words translated into Arabic, Francis prayed: “If God is the God of life – for so he is – then it is wrong for us to kill our brothers and sisters in his name.

“If God is the God of peace – for so he is – then it is wrong for us to wage war in his name.

“If God is the God of love – for so he is – then it is wrong for us to hate our brothers and sisters.”

He concluded the prayer saying: “To you we entrust all those whose span of earthly life was cut short by the violent hand of their brothers and sisters; we also pray to you for those who caused such harm to their brothers and sisters. May they repent, touched by the power of your mercy.”

IS overran Mosul in June 2014 and declared a caliphate stretching from territory in northern Syria deep into Iraq’s north and west.

It was from Mosul’s al-Nuri mosque that the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made his only public appearance when he gave a Friday sermon calling on all Muslims to follow him as “caliph”.

Mosul held deep symbolic importance for IS and became the bureaucratic and financial backbone of the group.

It was finally liberated in July 2017 after a ferocious nine-month battle in which between 9,000 and 11,000 civilians were killed, according to an Associated Press investigation at the time. Al-Baghdadi was killed in a US raid in Syria in 2019.

Francis will travel by helicopter across the Nineveh plains to the small Christian community of Qaraqosh, where only a fraction of families have returned after fleeing the IS onslaught in 2014.

He will hear testimonies from residents and pray in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was torched by IS and restored in recent years.

He will end the day with a Mass in the stadium in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, that is expected to draw as many as 10,000 people.

He arrived in Irbil early on Sunday, where he was greeted by children in traditional dress and one wearing a pope outfit.

Iraq declared victory over IS in 2017, and, while the extremist group no longer controls any territory, it still carries out sporadic attacks, especially in the north.

The country has also seen a series of recent rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias against US targets, violence linked to tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The IS group’s brutal three-year rule of much of northern and western Iraq, and the gruelling campaign against it, left a vast swathe of destruction.

Reconstruction efforts have stalled amid a years-long financial crisis, and entire neighbourhoods remain in ruins. Many Iraqis have had to rebuild their homes at their own expense.

Iraq’s Christian minority was hit especially hard. The militants forced them to choose among conversion, death or the payment of a special tax for non-Muslims.

Thousands fled, leaving behind homes and churches that were destroyed or commandeered by the extremists.

Iraq’s Christian population, which traces its history back to the earliest days of the faith, had already rapidly dwindled, from around 1.5 million before the 2003 US-led invasion that plunged the country into chaos to just a few hundred thousand today.

Francis hopes to deliver a message of hope, one underscored by the historic nature of the visit and the fact that it is his first international trip since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Public health experts had expressed concerns ahead of the trip that large gatherings could serve as superspreader events for Covid-19 in a country suffering from a worsening outbreak where few have been vaccinated.

The Vatican has said it is taking precautions, including holding the Mass outdoors in a stadium that will only be partially filled.

But throughout the visit, crowds have gathered in close proximity, with many people not wearing masks. The Pope and members of his delegation have been vaccinated but most Iraqis have not.