Call to remember Christians driven from home in Iraq

Ireland’s most senior bishop has appealed to the faithful this Christmas to remember the suffering of Christians of Iraq persecuted at the hands of Islamic State (IS) because of their beliefs, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

In his address at a carol service at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, Archbishop Eamon Martin spoke up for persecuted Christians worldwide and said their suffering often goes unnoticed. “Most of us go about our Christmas shopping and preparations unaware of the injustice and discrimination which affects many of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world,” he said.

Last week, Archbishop Martin visited northern Iraq with Catholic development agency Trócaire and saw first-hand the legacy of Christian persecution by IS.

He met some of the families who were terrorised into leaving their homes in Mosul and the Nineveh Plains. While some have been able to return to their homes and villages, others are afraid to do so, deterred by the presence of unexploded landmines.

He told the congregation in Armagh that the scale of destruction in the town of Batnaya had brought tears to his eyes: family homes burned and looted, shops and businesses ruined; church and convent buildings destroyed and daubed with hateful graffiti. Even the town’s cemetery was desecrated and gravestones smashed to pieces.

The archbishop learned that many Christians and other minorities such as the Yazidis continue to leave Iraq and that their numbers are in “steep decline”.