The sacristy, a small room next to the altar, is full of bad memories. Dozens of worshipers sought refuge here while terrorists besieged the church. Many were shot dead or killed by grenades, leaving blood-stained handprints on the walls. Natiq, as well as his wife and child, were among them.
Our Lady of Salvation Church is today decorated with the engraved names of those killed on that day – 51 congregations and two priests.
The attack left Anwar partially blinded and seriously injured his right arm.
Eyes half closed, he looks at a new addition to the church: A white throne, positioned under a high collage of the martyrs of the congregation. Pope Francis will deliver a speech here when he arrives in Iraq on Friday.
“I am very happy. I am very, very happy,” Anwar said as he looked ahead to the visit. Despite his extravagant words, the caretaker seems a bit unintentional. “I want to tell him to look after us,” he added, “because the state does not look after us.”
But Anwar will not count among the small gathering of congregation members to greet the Pontiff here during his historic visit. Due to the pandemic, crowds are kept away.
The vast majority of Iraqi Christians will watch the tour – first by a pope in Iraq – on television. A full evening clock is set for the duration of the trip.
These strict measures have been taken to reduce the risks of the visit, which has so far been considered Pope Francis’ most dangerous journey, due to a nationwide increase in coronavirus cases and as a result of an increase in violence in the war-torn country.
“Pope Francis coming to Iraq emphasizes the importance of our country to believers from around the world,” a senior official in the presidential office said. “It is also a confirmation of [the] Pope’s support for peace in Iraq, a testament to the reverence of Iraqi Christians.
“This visit comes at a challenging time for Iraq, but we are taking all necessary precautions for the coronavirus,” the official said.
The trip, which was announced in December, was widely expected to be canceled.
The country’s Covid-19 boom is also continuing unabated – last weekend, the Vatican’s own envoy to Iraq, Mitja Leskovar, tested positive for the virus.
The pope still insists he will not let Iraqis down.
At the end of a general hearing on Wednesday, the pope made no mention of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, but said: “I have been wanting to meet the people who have suffered so much for some time, and to meet the martyr church.”
“The people of Iraq are waiting for us. They were waiting for Pope John Paul II, who is not allowed to go.” and then President Saddam Hussein. ‘The people can not be let down for a second time. Let us pray that this journey may be carried out well. ‘
The Vatican called the trip an “act of love”.
“All the precautions were taken from a health point of view,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday. “The best way to interpret the journey is as an act of love; it is a gesture of love from the pope to the people of this country who should receive it.”
This is a message that is true for many Iraqis.
In addition to Our Lady of Salvation, Pope Francis will visit several other sites related to some of Iraq’s worst tragedies in its decades of unrest, including Mosul, the largest city occupied and destroyed by ISIS.
He will also hold a meeting in a cathedral in the city of Qaraqosh in the North Christian majority. ISIS turned the courtyard of the Immaculate Conception Church into a shooting range. They set fire to the church’s contents, blackened the inside, and destroyed its statues. ISIS members piled up the church’s bibles, books and prayer books and set them on fire. A large black dot in the courtyard remains, indicating the place where it was burned.
The Christians of Iraq are eager for the Pontiff to take care of their wounds. But they also hope the trip will underscore the fate of their dwindling community. Before the American invasion in 2003, there were 1.5 million Christians in the country. About 80% of them have since fled the country, according to leading Christian clergy there.
“What scares me is that no one during this period asked what we lost, for example,” Bashar Warda, the Chaldean archbishop of the northern city of Erbil, told CNN. ‘We have a decrease in the number of Mandans, and now the Yazidis, Christians.
“They do not care about this,” he said, referring to the political elite in Baghdad. ‘Because they did not care when we lost the Jewish community in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. And this cycle continues. ‘
Sabah Zeitoun moved to Sweden about 21 years ago, which is now home to a large Arab Christian community. He is back in Erbil for a visit and extends his journey to be here for the Pope’s tour.
He believes that those who left the country went for good. “I do not think anyone will return from Europe,” the 65-year-old said. “It would be difficult.”
Zeitoun served as a soldier for eight years during the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s. He was deployed to Kuwait during the invasion of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
When he returned, he opened a liquor store in Mosul. In 2000, he said he was arrested and detained for three days for keeping his store open for five minutes outside the country’s legally allowed closing time. That was the point at which he decided to leave Iraq.
‘A mission of peace’
In a bustling Baghdad cafe, a young engineer and a political scientist are deep in a serious discussion about the pope’s visit. The conversation between the two young Shia Muslims began as a joke about the three-day exclusion, but quickly developed into a conversation about the local consequences of the trip.
“People, both Christians and Muslims, regard the pope as a man of peace,” said political scientist Mumen Tariq, 30. “This visit gives Iraq a new role on the world stage.”
There is a surprising hope in their view of Iraq’s political situation. “The pope’s visit comes at a very important time,” said engineer Mohammed Al-Khadayyar. “He’s coming to the grave of ISIS, and that will hopefully be the beginning of the page of peace. He will push us to move away from local fault lines and to a place of moderation.”
Asked if they were concerned about the impending lockdown of the state, Tariq said: “We are ready to spend three days, a week, ten days or even a month in the lock if the pope’s mission is a peace is. ”
Back at the Church of Salvation, a handful of congregations decorate the courtyard crib in preparation for the visit. Two veiled Shia women ask to enter the church, but are stopped for security reasons. Deacon Louis Climis explains that Muslims come here regularly to pray.
A nun regrets that the pope does not plan to visit a small museum in the church quarters to commemorate the massacre, but the rest of the congregations would like to keep their hopes in check on the upcoming visit.
“The Iraqi Christian wants to tell the pope that we are sick and that we need medicine,” explained Climis, who also survived the massacre. “We need guidance because we are in a jungle, a jungle ruled by political monsters.”
The massacre deepened the Christian faith of Caretaker Anwar, but weakened his faith in Iraqi authorities.
For years he drew up papers in which he demanded compensation from the government for his injuries, as he had to give up his career as a carpenter in the aftermath of the attack. Then, one day, he stopped seeking government compensation.
“I gathered the papers in a pile and used them with liquor,” says Anwar, repeating the scene with his hands. “And then I set them on fire.”
CNIA’s Delia Gallagher contributed to this report from Rome. CNN’s Arwa Damon and Aqeel Najm contributed to this report from Baghdad.