Ahead of Pope visit, survivor recalls church massacre

BAGHDAD >> It began like any other Sunday in the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad for worshipper Louis Climis. That day nearly 11 years ago would end with blood-stained pews, anguish and lives lost.

Six al-Qaeda-linked militants stormed and seized the church, killing dozens inside. At the time, the Oct. 31, 2010 attack was the bloodiest in a drumbeat of violence that Iraq’s Christians suffered during the brutal sectarian warfare following the 2003 U.S. invasion. More than a decade later, it still stands as perhaps the deadliest single attack against the community.

The carnage prompted many Christians to flee Iraq and deepened the mistrust between the community and its Muslim neighbors, a chasm that endures to this day.

Some are now counting on a much anticipated visit to the church by Pope Francis on Friday to help mend the wounds. Our Lady of Salvation, which belongs to the Syriac Catholic Church, is one of the pontiff’s first stops in a historic visit to Iraq that Christians hope will secure their tenuous place in the country.

“The pope’s visit is hope for us, that he will talk with Iraqi officials to tell them to stop the violence, stop the armed groups and protect minorities,” Climis said.

On that fateful day in 2010, Climis, then 55, was a youth leader at the church. He had arrived just in time for weekly Mass with his 18-year-old son, Radi. His wife and other children stayed home to supervise kitchen repairs. For this, Climis would later be thankful.

The lofty church interiors resounded with the voice of Father Thair reading a Bible passage. He would never finish. It was right then that the first suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest.

The blast threw Climis to the floor. Stunned, his eyes strained to focus on the unfolding chaos — smoke, debris and screams. Worshippers lay lifeless.

He counted four gunmen. Under the icon of the Virgin Mary, one began singing the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer.

Quickly, Climis grabbed his son and ran toward the sacristy room, where church furnishings and records were stored. As people scrambled for cover, he beckoned them inside. With over 40 people in the room, he shut the wooden doors and slid a steel rod to bar the handles.

“But it was very thin… any one of the four terrorists could enter the room and kill us easily,” he said, recalling the scene from his Baghdad home.

Climis and his son lay frozen on the floor, listening to the horrors on the other side of the door. Shrieks were followed by bullets. Children cried out. Explosion after explosion shook the walls.

One gunman told a mother to quiet her wailing infant. When she was unable, Climis heard the pop of a bullet. The screaming ceased.

He could hear Father Wassim, his friend, try and reason with the men. He too was shot and killed.

AP PHOTO/KHALID MOHAMMED, FILE Mourners carry the coffins of slain Christians during their funeral on Nov. 2, 2010, in Baghdad, Iraq, who were killed when gunmen stormed a church during mass and took the entire congregation hostage.