Thousands of families are said to be returning to Iraq, just a few years after the towns were taken over by ISIS and Christians killed.
Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq has apparently given hope to Iraqi Christians returning to their homeland after fleeing years of violence. Qaraqosh, in the Nineveh Plains, is Iraq’s largest Catholic town, 20 minutes from Mosul, and it had a population of 55,000 before it was occupied by ISIS for two years.
According to priest Father Ammar Yako, who runs a centre for displaced families, 23,000 Christians have already returned.
Fionn Shiner, parliamentary and press officer for religious freedom charity Aid to the Church in Need told Premier the fleeing goes back further for some: “In Saddam Hussein’s time, he did a census and there was 1.4 million Christians there’s now thought to be less than 250,000. This movement away from Iraq really picked up during the Iraq War in 2003 and then with ISIS’ invasion of the Nineveh plains, that really sent it into turbo drive.”
However, exactly one month on from the papal visit, which took place in Baghdad, Mosul, Ur and Erbil, other people in the mainly Syriac Catholic town of Qaraqosh have reported that the Pope’s visit has caused people to consider a return.
Speaking to ACN, Revan Possa from the Qaraqosh reconstruction board, said: “We have heard about families from Qaraqosh who cried when they saw photos of the trip and are thinking about returning home.