An elderly Pope Francis bowing and asking God’s forgiveness for the violence unleashed in the square of the four churches in Mosul; the choral participation of Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and Sabeans, all in traditional costume, survivors of a violent uprooting; the crumbling walls of the churches under reconstruction, where the monument to the martyrs and to those who died under the murderous fury of bloodthirsty hired men is blessed… I was moved to see all these buds of rebirth in a country and especially in a people that risked crumbling away like dust on the wind to disappear.
Iraq, like Iran, influenced by the Zoroastrian tradition, celebrates the new year in spring, on March 21. This year, the new spring came a few weeks earlier, with the pontiff who revealed the resurrection of a people who seemed destined to be swallowed up by terrorism, emigration, division to the eyes of the whole world.
I underline “people” and not “state”: The Iraqi state is still crippled by division, laying mutual blame, yet to rebuild harmony within, but the people show us examples of hope in coexistence and the future. Young Muslims and Christians rebuilding mosques and churches in Mosul is something that has been going on for some time. The Pope highlighted this by showing the power of hope that overcomes oppression; the resurrection that overcomes death.