A day among Baghdad ’s few Christians

ICC Note

Twelve hundred families attended a church in the Karrada neighborhood in Bagdad . However, all but 100 families have fled the neighborhood. The exodus is triggered by the attack that the Christians suffered at the hands of Islamic extremists.

By Lucas Menget, Guillaume Martin, and Muthanna Ibrahim

07/09/2008 Iraq (france24.com)-Persecuted and murdered, Baghdad ’s Christians live a hidden life. For five years, violence has been a daily event In the Karrada neighborhood, in the heart of the capital. The Babylon Chaldean Church was the only one to open its doors to our reporter.

Father Medhat has preached for this little parish for the past three years and observes with sadness, but not without hope, the fleeing of his followers.

“There are still a few families that have stayed, so I stay with them,” he said. “If I saw no one coming to mass anymore, there would be no reason to stay.”

In 2003, the parish was comprised of 1,200 families. Only 100 have not fled to Kurdistan or abroad. One of his parishioners has no moved. He is stubbornly optimistic. “This culture of violence, of massacre comes from elsewhere,” explained William Warda. “It’s not in Iraqi culture.”