He wanted to kill Christians in this city. Today they were visited by the Pope. – VG

We are in the ruins of a church, surrounded by houses of blown bricks. Bullet holes and splinter damage are splattered on the church walls.

– We have an ultimatum. Convert to Islam, run away or have your head cut off.

Sadullah Rassam, 60, who is a Christian, talks about the dramatic day in July 2014. IS was advancing in the Levant and had taken the city. A few days earlier, the leader of the IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had taken the podium in the city of Mosul, which has one million inhabitants, and had declared himself the leader of his own state, the Islamic State (IS).

It wasn’t long before Rassam and other Christians were driven from their homes.

– At first, no one was killed here. They said they were the Islamic State, but it was just a mask before they showed their true selves. They would have killed me if I hadn’t fled, he says.

Safety call

To get to Mosul this Sunday, VG had to pass 20 roadblocks, with heavily armed police and soldiers on almost every corner. The security call has been massive and a curfew has been introduced. Only journalists and the police can go out. And the visiting Pope, then.

24 young people are dressed in white dresses and waving Iraqi flags as the procession to the Pope arrives. Iraqi special police are deployed on the rooftops and in the surrounding alleys.

Pope Francis gets out of the car, looks around the ruins of the church that surrounds him, and enters the stage to cheers from the audience. Pope Francis, Pope Francis, roper de unisont.

– We will not kill anyone for a god, because god does not believe in killing others. Despite the differences between religions, we are all equal in the eyes of God, he says.

Displaced

Christians in Iraq have a long history and their roots go back to the beginning of their faith. But the minority have long been vulnerable. Under Saddam Hussein, they were protected and there were about 1.5 million Christians in the country, but after the American invasion in 2003, they have been persecuted. Both IS and Al Qaeda have done their part to drive Christians out of the city. Now there are just under 250,000 left in all of Iraq.

“The fact that Christians are leaving Iraq and the Middle East is causing irreparable harm, not only to the people but also to the society from which they are leaving,” the Pope said in his speech. But peace is more powerful than war. We must stop the hatred between us, he continued.

Historical

The attendees, who are mainly specially invited Christians, head to the stage to better see how the Pope leaves the ruins. As they leave, the car stops and the Pope comes out and greets Sadullah Rassam. The 60-year-old man kneels down and kisses the Pope’s hand.

– When I saw the Pope, the hairs on his arm stood up. Although she smiled at me, she cried with joy. Because I couldn’t believe my eyes. This is a historic day for Iraq, he tells VG.

The night before, he had stayed up and couldn’t believe the Pope was going to visit Mosul.

– I told the Pope that I was the first Christian to return to Mosul after the Iraqi forces took the city.

The return

What the 60-year-old man met when he returned home to Mosul, after being displaced for three years, was a ruined hometown.

– I was helpless because I knew there was nothing I could do. ISIS fighters and destruction were out of my control.

The battle for Mosul has been described as one of the worst since World War II, with tens of thousands killed. It would be eight months before all of Mosul was reclaimed.

The 60-year-old says that as soon as Iraqi forces liberated his neighborhood in 2017, he wanted to move home. By then he had been displaced for three years.

– I love my neighborhood, my house, but I saw that my house was completely destroyed. I looked inside my garage and saw that there was a dead ISIS fighter, he says.

Only 70 Christian families have returned to Mosul since the war.

– Having the Pope visit here reminds the world community that more support is needed for my city, he says.