WelCom August 2023
More than 1800 young Chaldean Christians from seven archdioceses and more than 60 parishes gathered in Ankawa in Iraq from 29 June to 1 July. The youth festival staged near Erbil in the Kurdish north of Iraq, included Eucharistic celebrations, confession, retreats, seminars, debates, catechesis and other forms of Christian education. Erbil became a safe haven for thousands of Christians fleeing persecution almost a decade ago when Islamic fundamentalists with the Islamic State occupied Mosul and overran dozens of Christian towns and villages in the Nineveh Plains.