When they arrived in Rome from Baghdad, suffering in body and spirit, the outpour of solidarity, touched and comforted them.
It was 12 November last year: twenty-six Iraqi Christians, injured in the massacre consumed at the end of October 2010 by a terrorist commando in the Syrian Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, had been hospitalized at the Gemelli Hospital, in the solidarity rescue framework sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s request.
Accompanying the survivors of the massacre - 16 women, 7 men and 3 children - were 21 family members.
After meeting the refugees, Mayor Gianni Alemanno, who is always ready to show his sensitivity to victims of the so-called "Christianophobia", said he was "impressed" by the stories of violence told by the survivors of the massacre that saw 58 dead and over a hundred injured.
“The city of Rome” said the Mayor of the City “will do everything possible to accommodate those who choose to live here in Italy and for those who want to join their family in other European countries.”
Yet, after one year, a statement released by the association Salvaimonasteri reveals new details that draw shadows over that event, presented by the media as the testimony of Christian solidarity towards unfortunate brothers in the East.
According to what was said by the organization led by Elizabeth Valgiusti – who is always at the forefront of support to the Christian communities of Former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia - the hospitality shown to Iraqi Christian refugees upon their arrival did not last long.
The statement released by Salvaimonasteri says that on December 7, 2010 “the Iraq Task Force Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs unexpectedly announced that the majority of the Iraqi group had to be repatriated immediately.”
Faced with resistance from the Iraqis, a situation of “serious emergency” was created at the Gemelli Hospital.
According to the statement made by Salvaimonasteri, the ministerial offices as well as the Gemelli Hospital (“by agreement of the Ministry for the intervention”) had shown serious operational and strategic shortcomings in that situation.
The emergency was also buffered by the involvement of other entities: in addition to Salvaimonasteri, the religious congregation of rogationist fathers and the Attorney of the Syrian Catholic Church in Rome.
These entities, in direct relation with the Foreign Ministry’s Iraq Task Force Office, provided assistance and hospitality to the majority of Iraqi refugees for nine months, overcoming – so the press release says - the continued rebound of authority and responsibilities.
Last Friday, the last family of Iraqis from Baghdad's Cathedral remaining in Rome, left for their requested destination.
But now the material costs for this initiative of solidarity created under the patronage of prominent institutional bodies are likely to be covered for the most part by those entities that intervened only because inspired by the simple instinct of Christian charity, with no visible "humanitarian" results.
In particular, the Rogationists’ house at Morlupo sustained actual expenses for over 30 thousand Euros.
Salvaimonasteri reports without indulgence “the failure on the part of the Ministry with regards to collaborations” and speaks of the money promised but that never arrived.
According to the Association, the Foreign Ministry had guaranteed that the Gemelli Hospital would receive 400 thousand Euros as foreseen by the bilateral agreement, but other structures would be excluded from reimbursement for the services provided.