The sacristy, a tiny room next to the altar, is full of bad memories. Dozens of worshipers sought refuge here while terrorists besieged the church. Many were shot or killed by grenades, leaving blood-stained handprints on the walls. Natiq, as well as his wife and son, were among them.
Today, the Church of Our Lady of Salvation is adorned with the engraved names of those who were murdered that day – 51 faithful and two priests.
The attack left Anwar partially blind, with his right arm seriously injured.
With half-closed eyes, he looks at a new addition to the church: a white throne, positioned below an imposing collage of martyrs in the parish. Pope Francis must deliver a speech here when he arrives in Iraq on Friday.
“I am extremely happy. I am very, very happy,” said Anwar, anticipating the visit. Despite his effusive words, the caretaker looks a little confused. “I want to tell him to take care of us,” he added, “because the state does not take care of us.”
But Anwar will not be among the small gathering of church members to greet the pontiff here during his historic visit. Because of the pandemic, the crowds are being kept apart.
The vast majority of Iraqi Christians will watch the trip – the first of a pontiff to Iraq – on television. A full curfew is being imposed during the trip.
These strict measures were taken to mitigate the risks of the visit, which is considered Pope Francis’ most dangerous trip to date, both because of the national increase in coronavirus cases and because of the increase in violence in the war-torn country.
“Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq highlights the importance of our country to the faithful around the world,” said a senior official in the president’s office. “It is also an affirmation of [the] The Pope’s support for peace in Iraq, a testament to the reverence of Christians in Iraq.
“This visit comes at a challenging time for Iraq, but we are taking all necessary precautions against the coronavirus,” said the official.
It was expected that the trip, announced last December, would be canceled.
The rise of Covid-19 in the country also continues unabated – last weekend, the Vatican’s own envoy to Iraq, Mitja Leskovar, tested positive for the virus.
Even so, the pope insists he will not disappoint Iraqis.
At the end of a general audience on Wednesday, the pontiff made no mention of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, but said: “For some time, I wanted to find those people who suffered so much and find that martyred Church.”
“The people of Iraq are waiting for us. They were waiting for Saint Pope John Paul II, who was not allowed to go,” he said, referring to a planned trip in 2000, which was canceled after a break in negotiations between the Vatican and then President Saddam Hussein. “The people cannot be disappointed a second time. Let us pray that this trip is well done.”
The Vatican called the trip “an act of love”.
“All precautions have been taken from the point of view of health,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. “The best way to interpret the trip is as an act of love; it is a gesture of love by the Pope to the people of this land who need to receive him ”.
This is a message that rings true for many Iraqis.
In addition to Our Lady of Salvation, Pope Francis must visit several other sites associated with some of Iraq’s worst tragedies in its turbulent decades, including Mosul, the largest ISIS-occupied and devastated city.
He will also hold a meeting in a cathedral in the northern Christian city of Qaraqosh. ISIS converted the courtyard of the Church of the Immaculate Conception into a firing range. They set fire to the contents of the church, blackening the interior and destroying its statues. ISIS members piled up the church’s Bibles, books and prayer books and set them on fire. A large black spot in the courtyard remains, marking the place where they were burned.
Christians in Iraq want the Pontiff to heal his wounds. But they also hope the trip will highlight the plight of their increasingly small community. Before the 2003 invasion of the United States, there were 1.5 million Christians in the country. Since then, about 80% of them have fled the country, according to the main Christian clergy there.
“What scares me is that during this period no one asked what we, for example, missed,” Bashar Warda, the Chaldean archbishop of the northern city of Erbil, told CNN. “We have a decreasing number of Mandeans and now the Yazidis, Christians.
“They don’t care about that,” he said, referring to the political elite in Baghdad. “How they didn’t care when we lost the Jewish community in the 40s, 50s and 60s. And that cycle is going.”
Sabah Zeitoun moved to Sweden, today home to a large Arab Christian community, about 21 years ago. He is back in Erbil for a visit and has extended his trip to be here for the Pope’s trip.
He believes that those who left the country are gone forever. “I don’t think anyone will come back from Europe,” said the 65-year-old. “That would be difficult.”
Zeitoun served as a soldier for eight years during the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s. He was sent to Kuwait during the country’s invasion by 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 because he kept his store open five minutes past the country’s legally sanctioned closing time. It was at this point that he decided to leave Iraq.
‘A mission of peace’
In a busy cafe in Baghdad, a young engineer and a political scientist are involved in a serious discussion about the Pope’s visit. The conversation between the two young Shiite Muslims began as a joke about the three-day blockade, but quickly evolved into a conversation about the regional implications of the trip.
“People, both Christians and Muslims, look at 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 surprising hope in his view of the political situation in Iraq. “The pope’s visit comes at a very important time,” said engineer Mohammed Al-Khadayyar. “He comes over the grave of ISIS, and what will hopefully mark the beginning of the peace page. He will push us to move away from regional failures and to a place of moderation.”
Asked if they were uncomfortable with the state blockade, Tariq said: “We are ready to spend three days, a week, 10 days or even a month in the block if the Pope’s mission is one of peace”.
Back at the Church of Salvation, a handful of the faithful are decorating the manger on the patio in preparation for the visit. Two veiled Shi’a women ask to enter the church, but are prevented for security reasons. Deacon Louis Climis explains that Muslims regularly come here to pray.
A nun regrets that the pope is not scheduled to visit a small museum set up in the church chambers to commemorate the massacre, but the rest of the faithful are eager to keep their hopes of the next visit in check.
“The Iraqi Christian wants to tell the Pope that we are sick and we need medicine,” explained Climis, who also survived the massacre. “We need guidance because we are in a jungle, a forest ruled by political monsters.”
The massacre deepened the Christian faith of the janitor Anwar, but it eroded his faith in the Iraqi authorities.
For years, he compiled documents seeking government compensation for his injuries, as he had to give up his career as a carpenter after the attack. Then, one day, he gave up seeking government compensation.
“I put the papers together in a pile and dipped them in alcohol,” said Anwar, re-enacting the scene with his hands. “And then I set them on fire.”
CNN’s Delia Gallagher contributed to this Rome report. CNN’s Arwa Damon and Aqeel Najm contributed to this Baghdad report.