The Catholic Weekly 19 July 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 16 NEWS 19, July, 2020 WORLD ‘Faith could vanish’ Separated twins recover Annexation final straw for Israel’s Christians Global Church aid agency issues warning for Iraqi Christians AFTER MORE than a year of preliminary studies and three difficult operations, a medi- cal team at the Vatican-owned pediatric hospital successful- ly separated conjoined twin girls. Born with an extremely rare condition of being totally joined at the back of the crani- um, the 2-year-old girls, Ervi- na and Prefina, had recovered well from their last procedure on 5 June and were expected to continue thriving, staff at the Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital said at a news con- ference on 7 July, according to Vatican News. The girls were born on the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, June 29, 2018, in Mbaiki, Cen- tral African Republic, then taken to the capital, Bangui, THE THREATENED Israeli annexation of territory in the West Bank and the Jordan Val- ley could be “the final straw” for a viable Christian pres- ence in Palestine, said a group of local Christian clergy. “For Palestine, Bethlehem and particularly for its Chris- tian population, this new pro- cess of annexation will be par- ticularly catastrophic,” priests from the Roman Catholic, Melkite Catholic, Greek Or- thodox and Lutheran com- munities of the Bethlehem area said in a statement re- leased on 7 July. Since 1967, WITHOUT IMMEDIATE ac- tion from the internation- al community, Christians in northern Iraq could be endan- gered with extinction, warns a new report from the pontifi- cal charity Aid to the Church in Need. The report, Life after ISIS: NewChallenges for Christianity in Iraq , is based on a survey of Christians in the liberated Ni- nevah Plains. With anticipated emigra- tion, ACN says the region’s Christian population could plummet to 23,000 within four years. That is a reduction of 80 per cent from the months before the 2014 Islamic State invasion and would move the Christian community from the category of “vulnerable” to the critical category of “en- dangered with extinction,” the report states. “The international commu- nity must take immediate and decisive action to tackle the problems which are threaten- ing the continuing Christian presence in Iraq,” said Edward Clancy, director of outreach for Aid to the Church in Need- USA. “It is more important than ever that world leaders work together to prevent Christian numbers falling further in Iraq.” ACN’s survey indicates that security and political reasons remain the primary driver of emigration. According to the report, 87 per cent of the Christians feel “unsafe or absolutely unsafe,” and 67 per cent believe it is likely or very likely that Islamic State or a similar group will re- turn in the next five years. Of those wishing to emi- grate, 69 per cent cite political and security reasons as the pri- mary reason. The region also ¾ ¾ Carol Glatz ¾ ¾ Doreen Abi Raad Twin sisters Ervina and Prefina, who had been joined from the back of the head since birth, are pictured with their mother, Ermine. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OSPEDALE PEDIATRICO BAMBINO GESU VIA REUTERS A Palestinian demonstrator runs during a protest against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupiedWest Bank. PHOTO: CNS A priest holds a crucifix during a procession of Christians in Qara- qosh, Iraq. PHOTO: CNS/COURTESY ACN to the children’s hospital Pope Francis had visited in 2015 and continued to support with donations and assistance af- terward. Mariella Enoc, president of Bambino Gesu in Rome, was in the Bangui hospital to over- see some of their support and, after seeing the infant twins, she proposed they go to Rome, with theirmother, to see if they could be separated. The girls’ mother, Ermine, said at the news conference, Israel has annexed about 5,000 acres of land – some of it privately owned – in northern Bethlehem and the adjacent villages of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. The religious leaders said the capacity for the commu- nities to expand according to the needs of their natural growth has been “severely hindered.” On the western border the Cremisan Valley and al-Makhrour Valley are the last areas left for expansion and enjoyment of nature, but these are under threat by the annexation, the priests said. A Salesian monastery and suffers from a poor economy. In the Ninevah Plains, 93 per cent of Christians character- ised the economy as bad or very bad. “The primary driver of the poor economy is the state of Iraq as a whole, which is bur- dened by sanctions, poor secu- rity, extreme corruption, and an unpredictable political sys- tem,” the report states. In the summer of 2014,more than 100,000 Christians were uprooted from their homes by ISIS, fleeing to the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. After the liberation of the Ninevah Plains, in early 2017 Aid to the Church in Need launched what it calls a “mod- ern-dayMarshall Plan” to tack- le the “mammoth task” of re- building Christian homes. ACN has since helped re- store 2,860 damaged or de- stroyed Christian homes in six cities and villages on the Ninevah Plains. It now plans to focus on rebuilding the in- frastructure of church-run fa- cilities. By 2019, the number of re- turned displaced Christians was 36,000. In its report, ACN suggests organisations seeking to im- prove the condition of Chris- tians in Iraq should emphasise advocacy leading to the resto- ration of security in the Ninev- ah Plains. - CNS “Now they can run, laugh, study” and even become doc- tors to save the lives of others. She thanked everyone for their help, particularly Pope Francis for what he has been doing for children in Bangui. She said her one wish nowwas for Pope Francis to baptise the girls. Twins conjoined at the head occurs in one out of 2.5 million live births and in five cases out of every 100,000 sets of twins. Ervina and Prefina had an even rarer condition of being completely joined in the back of their heads, shar- ing not just the skull, but also a critical network of veins di- recting blood from the brain to the heart to be reoxygenated. After extensive studies, in- cluding utilising advanced 3-D imaging and simulated surgeries, the girls underwent three operations, the first in May 2019 and the last in June; that one took 18 hours and in- volved a team of more than 30 doctors and nurses. Hospital staff helped pre- pare the girls for their eventu- al separation, a press release said, by giving them each a mirror so they could see and explore each other’s face and build on their relationship through sharing their facial expressions. - CNS It is more important than ever that world leaders work together to pre- vent Christian numbers falling further in Iraq.” Edward Clancy, ACN Now they can run, laugh, study and even become doctors to save the lives of others.” She said her one wish nowwas for Pope Francis to baptise the girls. Ermine (twin babies’ mother) school and located in the area targeted in the Cremisan Val- ley, and land farmed by pa- rishioners for generations is also in danger. In the east, people fear land belonging to Beit Sahour will be annexed. “Our biggest con- cern is that the annexation of those areas will push more people to emigrate,” the clergy said. “Bethlehem, surrounded by walls and settlements, al- ready feels like an open pris- on.” - CNS ¾ ¾ Judith Sudilovsky