In Kirkuk, Catholics and Muslims pray together for peace
Kirkuk (AsiaNews) - Prayers for peace and coexistence were held in the cathedral of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, with hymns, psalms, petitions, and readings from sacred Scripture, attended by both Christians and Muslims: Sunnis and Shiites; Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen. The prayers were heard by religious leaders, tribal chiefs, political and military leaders. Two Muslim women were among those who read prayers for peace.
Many people spoke. "With prayer", said Archbishop Sako, "we can realize reconciliation and establish peace, prayer changes our heart, mind and helps us to be open-minded and to accept differences in a positive way. This meeting on the eve of Ramadan is an appeal to fast, pray, be open to conversion and to work for peace and reconciliation. In this special spiritual way we can win over the violence and thereby strengthen harmony and fraternity".
Appreciation for the Catholic initiative was expressed by the mayor of Kirkuk, who called for peace and true coexistence. A Sunni imam recalled that "in the early Islamic caliphate, there were many dynamic Christians working with Muslims in many ways, and today we need that. We thank the Catholic Church for bringing us together".
Later, a young Muslim told me: "I had never been inside a Catholic church. I did not know what to expect. As soon as our joint purpose was stated again clearly - to pray for deep lasting peace for our beloved Iraq - another experience united all of us. Songs from the small choir, words from speakers, the beautiful church building, and people sitting next to one another, knew that deep lasting peace was the only powerful purpose that enables strangers to sit side by side and pray together".
At the end of the religious ceremony, we sat together at the same table for a simple meal, and people representing different ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups told me: "We are all people who believe in the goodness of God; why can't we gather and pray for the one thing all of us want and need - the deep, heartfelt desire for peace and the blessings that this peace would be for our beloved nation, Iraq?".
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