Persecuted Iraqi Christians look forward to pope’s visit with hope
Anjana Sankar/Dubai
Father Michaeel, the Archbishop Chaldean of Mosul, overseeing the renovation work at his church.
It was 5.30am and the sun was yet to crack through the Mosul’s sky. But in the distance, Father Najeeb Michaeel could clearly see the silhouettes of dozens of men brandishing their Kalashnikovs and charging toward his direction.
The marauding militants of the Daesh group were inching close. They had conquered most part of Iraq by June 2014, and were on a killing-spree.
“On that night, I saw the Daesh militants with my naked eyes. Men clad in black and with a murderous rage”, Father Michaeel, now the Archbishop Chaldean of Mosul, told Khaleej Times over phone from Mosul.