Over the past few weeks, more than 1,000 Iraqi Christians, most of whom are young children, reportedly received their first communion.
The Chaldean Catholic diocese in Baghdad held its first communion for 50 children in the Iraqi capital, while 32 others received the sacrament through the Syriac Catholic Diocese, according to the Catholic News Agency partner ACI MENA last week.
Nearly 15 years after their first experiences, 11 children participated in their first communion this year at the Our Lady of Salvation Parish in Baghdad, as reported by ACI MENA.
In Baghdeda, a town in the Nineveh Governorate, churches affiliated with the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul and its dependencies celebrated the first communion for over 460 children across three separate ceremonies.
Archbishop Benedictos Younan Hanno of Mosul in the Nineveh Plains also officiated at a service where 30 children received the sacrament in the towns of Bashiqa and Bartella.
Christians living in neighboring towns displaced by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 returned to their homes in 2017, after parts of Iraq were liberated around three years following the radical group's establishment of a caliphate in the Nineveh Plains.
Syriac and Chaldean Christians returned to find their homes and communities in a state of utter devastation. As the persecution watchdog Open Doors notes, the area northeast of Mosul is home to the majority of Iraq's Christians and is also the location of the ancient city of Nineveh, where Jonah was sent by God.
In 2014, prior to the rise of the Islamic State caliphate in the Nineveh Plains, the region's population was estimated to be about 40% Christian. However, the Islamic State forced many religious minorities to flee their homes and the area in subsequent years.
Since the military defeat of the Islamic State in 2017, control of formerly largely Christian towns was taken over by Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces.
Since 2004, half of Iraq's Christian population has fled the country. Although approximately 550,000 Christians still reside in Iraq, Open Doors highlights that most live in the Kurdish-controlled autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Open Doors, an advocacy group monitoring Christian persecution around the world, ranks Iraq as the 17th worst country globally in terms of Christian persecution.
