News Briefs

Christians assess damage on Iraq’s Nineveh plain, ravaged by ISIS

January 24, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Erbil, Iraq, Jan 24, 2017 / 12:03 am (Aid to the Church in Need).- “I don’t understand how people can harm each other so much,” sighs security guard Louis Petrus. Petrus recently returned to his hometown for the first time: the Christian city of Qaraqosh, near Mosul, which he had to flee in August 2014, when Islamic State captured the largest Christian city on the Nineveh plain.

He told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need: “Look at my house: it is damaged, most of my furniture has been stolen and my household effects are broken. Other inhabitants of Qaraqosh had prepared me for what I would find in the city. I had heard stories and seen pictures of the destruction caused by the jihadists. Now that I am seeing the city with my own eyes, I do not know what to feel. The terrorists have destroyed a lot of my possessions.”

Father Sharbil Eeso, a 72-year-old Syrian Catholic priest, also returned to the town, also known as Bakhdida. He found the seminary in shambles. In search of hidden treasures, the occupiers brought down ceilings and destroyed statues.

“We are not allowed to clear up the mess yet,” the priest said, adding that “first the damage needs to be assessed carefully and documented thoroughly, and that can only start when the city is safe. Last week, a jihadist emerged from the tunnel system which ISIS has built underneath the city. The army immediately shot and killed him: it was a 13-year-old boy.”

The jihadists made full use of the churches in Qaraqosh, even writing battle instructions on church walls. St. George’s Syrian Catholic Church was turned into a bomb factory; hundreds of bombs and grenades, in all shapes and sizes, are still lying there. There are also supplies of deadly chemicals, ingredients to make powerful explosives.

Like Father Eeso, Louis Petrus firmly intends to return to Qaraqosh. He said: “I don’t want to leave Iraq, unless all the inhabitants stay away and leave. But if two or three families return to Qaraqosh, I will too. This is my country. As soon as it is safe in the city and we receive permission to live here again, I want to rebuild my life in Qaraqosh. This is my place, I shall remain here until I die.”

“We really want to return to Qaraqosh, with our children,” said the mayor of the city, Nisan Karromi. But he added, “it will be a long time before all damages will be repaired.”

“We not only have to reconstruct and rebuild this city, but we also have to compensate the people for the damages they have suffered,” he said. “Now that the Iraqi government is in crisis, the international community will have to help make Iraq habitable again.”

Another concern Christians have is that both the Iraqi government and the Kurds – whose forces chased out the Islamic State – have designs on their land.

Manal Matti recently visited the blackened church of the Immaculate Conception. She is surprised by the mannequins that are spread out across the church grounds, shot through with bullets.

“The jihadists used the church as a shooting range, and the mannequins as targets,” she said, horrified. The woman used to run a beauty salon, just steps away from the church. She pondered: “I do not know when I will ever be able to see the inhabitants of Qaraqosh coming again to my beauty salon.”

 

Jaco Klamer writes for Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. www.churchinneed.org (USA); www.acnuk.org (UK); www.aidtochurch.org (AUS); www.acnireland.org (IRL); www.acn-aed-ca.org (CAN) www.acnmalta.org (Malta)

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Mafia crime is ‘radically opposed’ to the Gospel, Pope says

January 23, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Jan 23, 2017 / 07:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Frequently an outspoken critic against organized crime, Pope Francis again came out with harsh words for those involved in the mafia and other criminal activities, which he said are “stained with blood” and go directly against the faith.

“The phenomena of the mafia, which is an expression of a culture of death, is (something) to oppose and to fight,” the Pope said Jan. 23.

Mafia activity “is radically opposed to the faith and to the Gospel, which are important for life,” he said, adding that true followers of Christ “have thoughts of peace, fraternity, justice, welcome and forgiveness.”

Pope Francis spoke to members of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-terrorism Bureau during an audience with the organization in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

He initially made headlines regarding the mafia in June 2014 during his visit to the southern Diocese of Cassano all’Jonio, during which he slammed mafia members for being “adorers of evil” and declaring that because they follow a path contrary to the Gospel, they are “excommunicated.”

While the Pope’s words didn’t necessarily imply an official canonical excommunication, they shocked many, especially given the fact that many “mafiosi” claim to be devout Christians and even go to Mass, while at the same time carrying out their crimes.

In his speech to the Anti-Mafia Bureau, Francis pointed to the three main criminal organizations that operate in Italy, mostly in the south: the Mafia, who operate mainly Sicily; the Camorra, who run criminal activities largely in Italy’s Campagna region, particularly in Naples; and the ‘Ndrangheta, who mostly work in Calabria.

In addition to these three main criminal circles in Italy, another more specific organization, the Sacra Corona Unita, operates largely in Puglia, also in the southern half of the country.

These criminal groups are “increasingly assuming a cosmopolitan and devastating aspect” by exploiting economic, social and political weaknesses, which Francis said are “fertile ground to achieve their deplorable projects.”

Now more than ever, increased effort is needed in order to combat the activity and power of these groups, “which are responsible for violence and oppression stained by human blood.”

Society needs to be healed from corruption and exploitation, he said, naming human trafficking and the drug and arms trade as examples. Francis pointed specifically to the impact these have on children, who are often “reduced to slavery.”

Calling organized crime a “social wound,” the Pope said these groups also constitute global challenges that the international community must face “with determination,” and urged greater collaboration among States.

He also turned to the plight of migrants, many of whom fall victim to traffickers, and exhorted leaders “to dedicate every effort especially in combating the trafficking of persons and of the smuggling of migrants.”

“These are very serious crimes that affect the weakest of the weak,” he said, and called for an increase in initiatives aimed at both protecting victims of trafficking and providing assistance to incoming migrants.

“Those who leave their own countries due to war, violence and the persecutions have a right to find adequate welcome and appropriate protection in the countries that call themselves civil,” he said.

All sectors of society, particularly educational programs, families, schools, Christian communities and sporting and cultural activities, ought to promote an honest and fraternal lifestyle, he said, adding that these will “little by little overcome evil and pave the way for good.”

Pope Francis closed his speech pointing to the work many parishes already do in these areas, and prayed that the Lord would give them the strength to continue going forward in their fight against mafia, violence and terrorism.

He assured of his prayers and support, asking that “the just and merciful Lord touch the hearts of the men and women of the various mafias in order to stop, to cease doing evil, to convert and to change their lives.”

“The money of dirty affairs and mafia crimes is blood money and produces an unequal power,” he said, noting that “we all know that the devil ‘enters the pockets:’ the first corruption is here.”

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