Chaldean Priest: a New Year of Rebirth for Mosul

AsiaNews ^ | 1/10/19

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Fr. Paul describes Christmas celebrations in the former stronghold of the Islamic State. Liturgies on the Nineveh plain "crowded and vibrant". A new Archbishop in Mosul to rebuild the community, on a pastoral and social level. Christians and Muslims against obscurantism, ask for "dialogue and modernity".

Mosul (AsiaNews) - If 2014 was "the black year" with the flight of the bishop, priests and faithful following the rise of the Islamic State (IS, ex Isis), then 2019 will be the year "of our rebirth, of pastoral and social challenges, of the return of the refugees," says Fr. Paul Thabit Mekko, the head of the Christian community in Karamles, on the Nineveh plain, in northern Iraq.

He spoke to AsiaNews, at the conclusion of the "crowded and vibrant" Christmas celebrations. "We must foster the rebirth of the community - explains the priest – by helping people to give meaning to their lives, by guaranteeing work and helping them to see beyond their troubles".

The Christmas holidays "took place regularly", because "by now the region has reached a certain degree of stability" a year and a half from the defeat (at least military) of the jihadist movement. "There are elements - adds Fr. Paul - that instill optimism, showing that the dark moment is behind us. The churches in Karemles, Qaraqosh, in many areas of the plain of Nineveh were decorated, in some ways there was an even more beautiful atmosphere than the period prior to Daesh [Arabic acronym for Isis] ".

"The birth of Christ - continues the Chaldean priest - is a moment of peace, of joy and the wish is that it can be a new beginning. Of course, our concerns remain, but the appointment of a new bishop in Mosul [the Dominican father Najib Mikhael Moussa] on the occasion......

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Praise God!