Priest laments 'modest' return of Christians

(22 Feb 2021) LEAD IN:
Mosul's Christians are not returning to their city in large numbers, a priest says.
Three years after the city was liberated from the Islamic State group, only 70 families have returned to Mosul.

STORY-LINE:
The pews of Mosul's al Bishara Syriac Catholic are mostly empty on mass day.
The majority of the city's Christians have left.
The Christian community in northern Iraq, a minority in the country, had faced persecution since the 2003 and the U.S. invasion of the country and later by the Islamic State group when they overran the region from 2014-2017.
Most of them "are now either outside Iraq, in foreign and western countries, or they are in the Kurdistan region," says Father Raed Adil, the priest of al Bishara church, the only church currently open in the city.
He says their return to the city and their homes has been "modest."
The visit of Pope Francis, who will make a pilgrimage to Iraq in March, won't help speed up their return, Father Raed adds.
The pope's visit include a pilgrimage to ancient Christian communities that were emptied and devastated in the battles with the IS.
Francis' main reason for making the first-ever papal trip to Iraq is to encourage the country's Christians, who faced decades of discrimination by Iraq's Muslims before being persecuted by the IS militants in 2014.
But "he doesn't have a military force or financial capacity," Father Raed says, to support the community's return.
Out of larger numbers, only around 70 Christian families have returned to Mosul so far.
When IS took control of the city in 2014, the Christian residents were forced to leave their homes and properties.
But three years after the liberation, many Christians are not returning to Mosul.
"We are the people of this land," says Hussam al-Kahwachi, one of the Christians who had lately returned to his home in Mosul.
"The Christians were in Iraq before the Muslims. Lately, the political parties came and divided us," he adds.
Iraq's Christian community has steadily dwindled since the 2003 US-led invasion.
The exact number of Christians left in Iraq is unclear, but they are thought to number several hundred thousand.

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