By Baghdadhope*
Since decades ago "peace" is a strange word in Iraq. It is so also for the dead who many times cannot find it even in their last home. At about 25 km northeast of Baghdad, along a dusty and wide road not far from the one that joins the capital city to Baquba, there are some cemeteries. Side by side, on a piece of land that about 50 years ago were given by free by the government to the various churches for their funeral rites, rest Christians of different confessions. Among these cemeteries there is the Chaldean one that the Patriarchal Vicar, Msgr. Shleimun Warduni, visited some weeks ago.
Baghdadhope asked to Msgr. Warduni the reason of the disastrous conditions of the place shown by the photographs taken by Father Douglas Al Bazi.
Baghdadhope asked to Msgr. Warduni the reason of the disastrous conditions of the place shown by the photographs taken by Father Douglas Al Bazi.
"There are many reasons," said the prelate, "the first is that the area where the cemetery is has been a very dangerous one for many years, certainly the cemetery has been plundered by thieves who seized the marble tombstones and the iron but above all it was poorly built and badly maintained." "The soil in many cases did not hold the weight of subsequent constructions. In the beginning the families were given a place to bury their dead close together, then individual graves began to be built, then these graves began to be decorated with small memorials and recently there has been a return to more simple tombs adorned only with plaques."
Who is responsible for managing the cemetery?
"The cemetery was built by the late Patriarch Mar Raphael Bedaweed who entrusted its management to the Chaldean Charity Association. Even taking into account the difficulty of making maintenance works the church wants them to be carried out as soon as possible as expressly required by the patriarch, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III Delly. In the meanwhile the area was fenced and entrusted to a guardian. Respect for the dead is in the Christian tradition and we must not forget that within the area there is also a small chapel for the All Soul's Day celebration. For this reason Chaldean church we will do everything possible for the place to be again the oasis of peace it deserves to be. "
It may seem strange thinking of cemeteries in a country where living is hard but the normalization is made also by their fate because, as Father Al Bazi said commenting the photos "suffering does not belong only to living Christians but to passed away too."
Who is responsible for managing the cemetery?
"The cemetery was built by the late Patriarch Mar Raphael Bedaweed who entrusted its management to the Chaldean Charity Association. Even taking into account the difficulty of making maintenance works the church wants them to be carried out as soon as possible as expressly required by the patriarch, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III Delly. In the meanwhile the area was fenced and entrusted to a guardian. Respect for the dead is in the Christian tradition and we must not forget that within the area there is also a small chapel for the All Soul's Day celebration. For this reason Chaldean church we will do everything possible for the place to be again the oasis of peace it deserves to be. "
It may seem strange thinking of cemeteries in a country where living is hard but the normalization is made also by their fate because, as Father Al Bazi said commenting the photos "suffering does not belong only to living Christians but to passed away too."