The worshippers were searched at the door and snipers stood guard on the roof, but Sunday's Mass was a joyful one for more than 200 Iraqis who packed a church in eastern Baghdad to see the first Iraqi cardinal. The service, which took place under heavy guard and was broadcast live on Iraqi state television, was capped by a handshake from a visiting Shiite imam — a symbolic show of unity between Iraq's majority Muslim sect and its tiny Christian community.
Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Church, celebrated the two-hour Mass, three weeks after Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to the top ranks of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
Delly presided over other services this week in Baghdad and the northern Kurdish city of Irbil, spreading his message of unity and forgiveness among Iraq's Christians who have frequently been targeted by Islamic extremists, forcing tens of thousands to flee and isolating many of those who remained in barricaded neighborhoods.
"We are of one family, everyone should work for the progress of this country," he said during his sermon.
"We pray today for the sake of each other and to forgive each other, as well to be directed to do good deeds," he added. "That is my demand for the Iraqis, moreover I urge the return home for displaced people and immigrants to their ancestral land."
Many of the people filling the pews at the elegant brick Church of the Virgin Mary said they were taking advantage of a lull in violence to attend services and congratulate Delly for becoming the first Iraqi to be named a cardinal.
In a reminder of the dangers still facing Iraqis, armed policemen wearing helmets and blue uniforms were stationed on the church's roof and others searched worshippers walking toward the stately brick building on Palestine Street, a major thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad. Several police pickups and Iraqi armored vehicles blocked the street.
Church officials said the weekly afternoon Mass has been more crowded and was extended by an hour as Iraqis are less fearful about being out on the streets late in many areas of the capital.
"We are proud of this. We came here to this church in order to tell the terrorists that we are not afraid of them," said Hibba Nasser, a 26-year-old housewife.
The high attendance at the church in mainly Shiite eastern Baghdad was among several recent signs that Iraqis are showing signs of normalcy amid a sharp decline in violence in the capital and surrounding areas, despite persistent attacks
The security situation remains fragile in the city, where Iraqis in many areas are still afraid to venture outside the concrete barriers erected by the U.S. military to protect volatile communities.
Only five people showed up for Sunday Mass at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in the mainly Sunni district of Dora in southern Baghdad, where Christians have faced threats from insurgents that have driven many away and forced others to barricade themselves inside their neighborhoods.
The priest, Aziz Bolus, said that church was reopened about 45 days ago, more than a year after it was closed because of threats from al-Qaida in Iraq militants.
"I decided to reopen it due to the improved security situation and the return of some Christian families to the area," Bolus said.
One worshipper, Dania Youhana, said she had fled to the semiautonomous Kurdish area in northern Iraq last year to escape the violence but decided to return to her house after hearing that al-Qaida had been kicked out from the area.
Iraqi soldiers guarded the church, with Associated Press photos showing one standing against a concrete wall with graffiti from insurgents threatening to "kill the Shiites and everybody who refuses to collaborate with al-Qaida."
Delly, 80, has been outspoken in the past about the need to protect Christians, who comprise less than 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million population. But he recently has expressed optimism about the decline in attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas, and he has welcomed messages of solidarity from Muslim leaders and the Shiite-led government.
The imam of a nearby Shiite mosque shook hands with Delly in the church's courtyard after the service.
"I came here to show the unity of the Iraqi people," said the black-turbaned imam Jassim al-Jazairi. "We are happy with the cardinal. We are very proud of any person, whether Christian or Muslim, who raises the name of Iraq in the international arena. We came here to offer our congratulations to Delly."
Sectarian violence in Iraq has declined in recent months due largely to the security crackdown in the Baghdad area, a new U.S. push to enlist Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq and militants, and a freeze in the activities of the Mahdi Army militia, led by the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.Christians in Iraq, the majority of whom are Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, were generally left alone under Saddam Hussein's regime. One of them, Tariq Aziz, served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister.
Attacks against the religious minority peaked with a coordinated bombing campaign in the summer of 2004 against Baghdad churches and again last September after Pope Benedict made comments perceived to be anti-Islam.
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