By Baghdadhope*
Referring to the repeated attacks that in recent days hit the Christian community in Mosul the Syriac Catholic Patriarch, Mar Ignatius Joseph III Younan, sent a message to the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, "to put an end to the crimes against Christians in Mosul or give them the weapons to defend themselves for not being killed like sheep."
Strong words, especially because uttered by a Christian leader. Words, however, that senounce through their weight the desperation of an entire community that doesn’t know how to stop the killing of its members.
"The Syriac Catholic patriarch and the Chaldean one too," told to Baghdadhope Msgr. Shleimun Warduni, Chaldean Patriarchal Vicar, “asked the government to create a commission of inquiry. It must find the perpetrators of these crimes, they must tell us who is killing us, who is the responsible of the new Christian flight from Mosul. In the past - continues Msgr. Warduni - we were told that the perpetrators of other attacks against Christians had been found, but we never knew their names, let alone the istigators. We want to know. We have the right to know. "
"We are an ancient but small community," recalls the prelate "we are witnesses of the faith where being it has become dangerous. How is possible that our fate leaves the world indifferent? We are deeply grateful for the words and thoughts of solidarity with our sufferings expressed by the Holy Father, but we ask that our tragedy is not forgotten when this wave of violence passes, if it will ever do. Four, five, ten murders in cold blood in a few days redirected attention on us, but after it the doors of the world will close and we will remain alone to face the pain. A pain made of death but also of flight, frustration, feelings of helplessness and forced estrangement in our country that we love so much. What is happening is outragerous. The world is watching live the extinction of a community that for centuries has withstood everything and that in a few years has been decimated. Why? Why?"
Q: The Archbishop of Kirkuk, Msgr. Louis Sako, proposed a demonstration and a fast to draw international attention to the "massacre of Iraqi Christians." What do you think of this proposal? "It has not been proposed in Baghdad but I support the idea and I will suggest it too. I would do everything to stop this tragedy. A solution must be found."
Q: The violence of recent days hit Mosul but considering what is happening there the level of measures to protect the Christian community and churches in Baghdad has been raised?
"No. Near the churches there are the police checkpoints, but they are equal to those that were in act before the last attacks in Mosul. Just as if nothing happened ... "
There is anger, but also sadness in the voice of this shepherd of souls who – it is clear - no longer knows how to protect his flock.
Everything will be lost if they become resignation.