Residents inspect the damage inside St. Ephrem Syrian Orthodox Church after a bomb attack in central Kirkuk, Iraq in this 2011 photo.
Residents inspect the damage inside St. Ephrem Syrian Orthodox Church after a bomb attack in central Kirkuk, Iraq in this 2011 photo. CNS photo/Ako Rasheed, Reuters

Islamic militants announce plan to transform Mosul church into mosque

By  Laura Ieraci, Catholic News Service
  • June 8, 2015

VATICAN CITY - One of the largest churches in Mosul, Iraq, will be transformed into a mosque.

According to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Islamic State militants posted notices throughout the city announcing that the Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Ephrem, which they emptied last fall, will reopen soon as the "mosque of the mujahideen" or jihad fighters.

The news came just before the one-year anniversary of the capture of Mosul by Islamic State fighters June 10.

Fides said the militants' intention to convert the church into a mosque became clear when they removed the cross from the church's dome, chose the adjacent buildings to house the headquarters of their "state council" last July, and emptied the church of its furnishings and put them on sale in November.

Mosul, located in northern Iraq, was once Iraq's second-largest city with a significant Christian population. The city is now empty of Christians. Thousands have sought refuge in Irbil in Iraq's semi-autonomous region, Kurdistan; an unknown number of Christians have been killed.

Tagged under:

Related items

More in this category: « Philippine bishops urge voters to reject 'corrupt' politicians in 2016 AP: Number of abortions in U.S. has gone down since 2010 »

Please support The Catholic Register

Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

DONATE