Iraqis pack churches for Christmas

Peace on Earth. Thanks to Jesus and his birthday. May God bless that land

Iraqis pack churches for Christmas - Yahoo! News: "Christians have often been the target of attacks by Islamic extremists in Iraq, forcing tens of thousands to flee. Many of those who stayed were isolated in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints. Less than 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people are Christians — the majority Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics.

A coordinated bombing campaign in 2004 targeted churches in the Iraqi capital, and anti-Christian violence also flared last September after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be against Islam.

But this year, with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha coming just before Christmas, Iraq has been living through some of the most peaceful moments since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Catholic Church and Iraq's first cardinal, celebrated Mass before about 2,000 people in the Mar Eliya Church the eastern New Baghdad neighborhood of the capital.

'Iraq is a bouquet of flowers of different colors, each color represents a religion or ethnicity but all of them have the same scent,' the 80-year-old Delly told the congregation.

Muslim clerics — both Sunni and Shiite — also attended the service in a sign of unity."