In a remarkable sign of faith and resilience, more than 1,000 Catholic children in Iraq celebrated their First Holy Communion this year—an extraordinary witness to the vitality of the Church in a land marked by years of persecution.
According to LifeSiteNews, churches across Iraq were filled with the joyful presence of boys and girls receiving the Eucharist for the first time, just eleven years after the Islamic State seized Nineveh and Mosul. This milestone comes as a visible sign that the Catholic community is not only surviving, but growing in the majority Muslim nation.
In Baghdad, 50 children from Chaldean parishes and 32 from the Syriac Catholic Church took part in the sacrament. In Qaraqosh, a city deeply scarred by ISIS occupation, 461 children received Holy Communion in the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul. Nearby, in Bashiqa and Bartella, Archbishop Younan Hanno praised “the faithful’s determination to stay on their ancestral land and their courage in returning after forced displacement.” He commended their commitment to passing on the faith to their children, “who have grown up in stable, united, devoted families,” LifeSiteNews reported.
The celebrations carried profound weight in places like the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Deliverance, where eleven children received First Communion this year. In 2010, this very church was the site of a massacre in which dozens of Catholics, including two priests, were killed by Islamic State members.
Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda presided over three Masses in Ankawa, a suburb of Erbil, where more than 200 children received the Sacrament. He reminded the faithful that Holy Communion “goes far beyond pretty white gowns and beautiful photos,” explaining that it is “a lifelong commitment that transforms communicants’ homes into places where Jesus’ presence lives through forgiveness, active listening, and generosity.”
The Christian population in Iraq—primarily Assyrians who trace their heritage to the ancient Assyrian civilization—remains one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. Most are Catholic, with a minority belonging to Eastern Orthodox churches, and many still speak neo-Aramaic, the language descended from the Old Aramaic spoken by Christ Himself.
As LifeSiteNews notes, Iraq is also a land with deep biblical roots—home to figures such as Abraham, Rebecca, Daniel, and Ezekiel. In this light, the sight of hundreds of young communicants receiving the Body of Christ is more than a local celebration—it is a living testimony that the same God who called Abraham still calls His people to faith, courage, and perseverance in their homeland.
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