Holy Week began with the sound of gunfire at Mosul’s Holy Spirit Parish Church. In this place, where religious services are held in an underground hall for security reasons because the church’s windows have all been blown out by bomb blasts and never replaced, the faithful pray and hope non-stop knowing that every time they attend mass could be their last one. Here is where AsiaNews spoke to some parishioners and heard what they had to say about the dangers and growing insecurity which despite everything have not stopped them from going to church and prepare for Easter.
Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, three car bombs exploded during the afternoon Eucharistic celebration at a distance of about 1.5 kilometres but the blast was heard in a 35 kilometre radius.
“The building suffered no damage nor did any faithful get hurt. Everyone was scared but no one ran away. And the parish priest (Fr Ragheed Ganni) continued the mass in the underground,” said some of the parishioners.
Some 250 people had come for mass that day, some of whom after the car bombs went off.
At the same time a nearby police station came under attack just before the readings.
“Bullets were flying all over the place, but we remained claim. Fr Ragheed consoled us and urged us to place our trust in God and accept these difficulties as a test of our faith,” those present said.
“At this point, we felt like Jesus when he entered Jerusalem knowing that the Cross would be the consequence of His love for man,” Fr Ragheed said. “So we offered our own suffering as a token of love for Jesus.”
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“It’s war, a real war but we hope to bear the Cross until the end with God’s grace,” said another Christian.
Finally, Fr. Ragheed on behalf of his parish sent ‘Easter Greetings’ to the rest of world, especially to the Pope, “who always holds the Iraqi people in his heart.”
Related:
The collection from the collection at the Holy Thursday Mass at St. John Lateran will go to Caritas Somalia:
The pope, who pointed to the plight of those in Somalia in a speech to the international diplomatic community in January, will preside over the concelebration of the April 5 Mass of the Lord’s Supper and will wash the feet of 12 men at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.
The monies collected will be donated to the work of Caritas Somalia, the Catholic relief agency in that country.
The conflict in Somalia has deteriorated in recent months, with Ethiopia being drawn into the fighting and the some of worst violence in the last 15 years. Scores of people have reported to have been killed in the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, in the clashes, and thousands have fled the city.
Despite worsening security, Caritas Somalia continues to run a medical clinic in Baidoa, Somalia, providing treatment to about 2,000 people every month, according to the relief agency.
“These are sad days for Somalia as the death toll continues to rise,” said president of Caritas Somalia Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who serves as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Mogadishu and oversees the church in Somalia’s violent capital. “he Pope’s donation to the Caritas medical operation in Baidoa gives us joy, and hope that peace is possible for this martyred country.”
“We see it as a sign of the pope’s concern for the most vulnerable and a tribute to those who lost their lives working for peace and justice in Somalia during the last 20 years, whether Christians or of other faiths,” he said.
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