Growing fear among Iraq’s Christians; Holy Week processions cancelled
April 06, 2026
Amid attacks from Iran and rising Shiite Islamic fundamentalism within Iraq, churches in northern Iraq, from Mosul to Erbil, cancelled outdoor processions during Holy Week, the Vatican newspaper reported.
Father Behnam Benoka, vicar general of the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul, told L’Osservatore Romano that “we have had to cancel processions—such as the always well-attended Palm Sunday processions through the streets of Bartella and Qaraqosh--as well as major outdoor celebrations. We have restricted religious rites to the interiors of places of worship only, while tightening security in the surrounding areas, due to the state of war.”
Father Benoka said that “fewer than one hundred Christian families now remain” in Mosul following the 2014 fall of Mosul to the Islamic State, which occupied the city for three years. “Back then, the threats came from Sunni fundamentalists who attacked innocent Christians—people who have always served as bridges of peace in this region. Now, the threats come from Shiite fundamentalists.”
“In the Nineveh Plains, a significant portion of the Christians who were displaced back then have since returned,” he continued. “And we thank God that in recent years—from 2017 until quite recently—they have also been able to slowly rebuild their lives, thanks to the assistance of many Catholic and international organizations.”
Iraqi Christians today “are truly afraid that the waves of this war might sweep across” Iraq, Father Benoka said. “We hope this does not happen; we do not want it to happen, for we have not yet healed from that ISIS attack. To this day, there are still so many people suffering from trauma caused by those events of 2014, and I cannot say with any certainty whether they would have the will to continue living here.”
“This is our land; we were born here,” he added. “We have shaped it through history—year after year, century after century. Now, the thought of leaving everything behind is not easy to bear, but people are weary of suffering. There are young people—and those aged 40 or 45—who say, ‘We have never known a single day of peace here in Iraq.’“
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