Free Republic

CNA Newsroom, Nov 15, 2022 / 08:25 am A church bell that was kept hidden by a Muslim family during the Islamic State’s occupation of Mosul rang out above St. Paul’s Chaldean Catholic Cathedral on Sunday for the first time in eight years. Christians from across Iraq’s Nineveh Plain came to the cathedral to participate in the bell-ringing ceremony and Divine Liturgy on Nov. 13. Archbishop Najeeb Michaeel, OP, the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul and Akra, led a procession to the grotto of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of Mosul, in the church courtyard before ceremoniously ringing the bell. The...

The Dominican friar has stayed a step ahead of militants bent on the destruction of evidence of pre-Islamic history.At an undisclosed location, Dominican priest Fr. Najeeb Michaeel is painstakingly digitizing his collection of ancient manuscripts documenting Iraq’s cultural heritage, including its Christian history, according to a report at the website Circa.com.Scanning these texts, the oldest of which date from the 7th century and which include manuscripts on Christian and Muslim spirituality, may be the only way to save these records of Iraq’s history from destruction by Islamic State groups. As part of former Mesopotamia, Iraq has a rich Christian tradition....