The Pope Francisco today traveled to the Iraqi city of Qaraqosh, from which its mostly Christian inhabitants had to flee after the arrival of the terrorists of the Islamic State (IS), and invited them to rebuild their community, to start their lives again and to show that “Terrorism never has the last word.”

Coming from the devastated Mosul, where he could see the destruction caused by the jihadists and the months of fighting, the Papa arrived for the angelus prayer at the cathedral of Inmaculada de Qaraqosh, which Christians call in Aramaic Bajdida, completely rebuilt after being burned by jihadists.

Songs and children with flowers in their hands accompanied the arrival of Francisco to this imposing cathedral, which was burned and completely destroyed by the IS and whose reconstruction was completed a few months ago.

“Our meeting shows that terrorism and death never have the last word. The last word belongs to God and his Son, conqueror of sin and death”, he said to the faithful.

“Now is the time to rebuild and start over, entrusting ourselves to the grace of God, who guides the destiny of every man and of all peoples. You are not alone! The whole Church is with you, through prayer and concrete charity”, he claimed.

He encouraged them “not to forget who they are and where they come from, to guard the bonds that hold them together and to guard their roots” and even though “faith can waver, when it seems that God does not see and does not act”, as in the most dark times of war, and also in these days of global health crisis and great insecurity, “in these moments, remember that Jesus is by your side.”

But also, Francisco He asked them to have “the capacity to forgive and at the same time the courage to fight.”

Forgiveness is necessary to remain in love, to remain Christian. The road to full recovery could still be long but I ask you, please, not to be discouraged. “

Francisco listened to the chilling testimonies of those days in 2014, when more than 150,000 Christians fled the terrorists with what little they could.

“On the morning of August 6, Bajdida woke up to the noise of the bombings. We all knew that IS was coming because three weeks earlier it had invaded some Yazidi towns and villages. That is why we left our homes, but returned three days later,” said Doha Sabah Abdallah, 38.

But that morning “we heard a huge roar, a mortar blow that forced us to leave our houses. The voices of the children playing outside fell silent and the cries of the adults were heard ”.

Doha lost in that attack her young son, another boy and her neighbor, a young woman who was soon to be married. “The martyrdom of these three angels was a clear warning. We had to go, if it hadn’t been for these deaths we would have stayed and we would have fallen into the hands of the IS ”.

“Their deaths saved our lives, although it is hard to accept” said this woman before him.

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