Iraqi Christians mark a muted Christmas - Summary

Sat, 25 Dec 2010

Baghdad - Iraqi Christians celebrated Christmas under tight security on Saturday as concerns over sectarian attacks led to a muted holiday, while the Vatican offered a message of comfort and a special prayer for their plight.

Most Christians headed to churches near their homes and businesses to attend services held on Saturday morning - in the safer daylight - instead of the traditional Christmas Eve mass.

Church leaders were urging the faithful to adopt additional security measures and have officially canceled most public events connected to the holiday. However, some churches were able to celebrate more openly in the autonomous Kurdish regions of northern Iraq, where many Christians have fled seeking refuge.

"My thoughts turn in a special way to the beloved country of Iraq," Pope Benedict XVI said in his Urbi et Orbi message to the city and the world from Rome.

"May the comforting message of the coming of Emmanuel ease the pain and bring consolation amid their trials to the beloved Christian communities in Iraq and throughout the Middle East," the pontiff said, adding that he wished it would "bring them comfort and hope."

The pope also called for global solidarity with Christians in the Middle East.

The vulnerability of Iraqi Christians had been highlighted in October, when an attack by Islamists on a Baghdad church - just as Sunday mass ended - left more than 60 people dead.

In a local show of support for the minority group, Ammar al-Hakim, a leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, on Saturday attended a mass held in the Virgin Mary Church in Baghdad's al-Mansur district.

President Jalal Talabani, meanwhile, congratulated Christians and appealed to "God to reign his blessings of love, fraternity and peace, making the New Year, a year of goodness, blessing and security for all."

In Mosul, some 400 kilometers north of the capital, many of Christianity's most ancient sects nevertheless feel threatened. The minority group's population has dwindled to a fraction of its size before the 2003 United States-led invasion, unofficial estimates say.

"Al-Qaeda has divided us and forced Christians to leave Mosul," said El-Hajj Abu-Abdullah, a Muslim school teacher.

He recalled happier days, when families of different faiths would offer each other blessings during holidays.

"I was always the first to congratulate Abu-Marie and his family for Christmas and New Year's," Abu-Abdullah said, using a pseudonym for a neighbor who fled the city this year.

Army and police forces were deployed around every church in Baghdad on Saturday. The Our Lady of Salvation church, the scene of the October attack, was also surrounded by newly erected cement blocks as extra security forces patrolled in the vicinity.

An Iraqi group affiliated with al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the church massacre and earlier this week renewed a threat against Christians, having already announced that the minority group was a legitimate target for more violence.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359685,muted-christmas-summary.html.