“Last week, in a street leading to Baghdad, some terrorists abducted 40 students of a school, including 3 Christians who were ordered to be converted to Islam. The 3 students strongly refused, saying they were prepared to die for their faith. The conclusion was that all of the 40 students were released”. This event was told to SIR by mgr. Louis Sako, bishop of Kirkuk, who today is meeting the delegation of Pax Christi that came to Iraq yesterday for a solidarity visit to the Christian community. “What happened to the three young Christians means that, despite so many difficulties, our devotees are not losing faith or hope, they are actually strengthening them”, highlights mgr. Sako who for this Lent decided to combine reconciliation with solidarity.
“In the diocese of Kirkuk, I made an appeal to raise the awareness of the congregation about the difficulty of our poorer brothers and the refugees. In the churches, we have put a box in front of the altar with the inscription: ‘the needy one is my brother, I’ll offer him a helping hand’. The funds raised will be handed out during Holy Week to the poor, so that they can celebrate Easter”. The process of reconciliation with the Muslims and the other Christian Churches is going on as well: “even at Lent, our Islamic brothers come to see us, but it takes time to promote initiatives and we have to learn. With the leaders of the other churches, we have created a council of 30 people who are in charge of giving voice to Christians. This fact was welcomed by the civil authorities as well. Then, last week, we met the president of the Republic, Jalal Al Talibani, during his tour of Kirkuk. We showed him our plan and he encouraged us. With him, we spoke of the future of the city and the role of Christians, who are a bit left out of the political arena”.