While traveling on a plane to Iraq, Pope Francis was presenting by a Spanish journalists with several documents. These documents, provided by Aid to the Church in Need, including an ISIS pricelist for Christian and Yazidi women and girls and a demand for Christians to pay ISIS the jizya.

By ACN Staff

When ISIS invaded and took over large sections of Iraq, they gave Christians living there a choice with three options. They could pay the jizya, a tax historically paid by Christians in Muslim-controlled lands that is basically racket money. They could convert to Islam. Lastly, they could leave ISIS controlled areas. The majority of the Christians fled in fear for their lives. In advance of giving notice to the Christians, ISIS painted the Arabic letter for “n” over their homes, with the “n” standing of Nazarene. Nazarene is the word used to refer to Christians in the Quran. Many Christian women and girls captured by ISIS were sold into slavery alongside Yazidi women and girls.  

While traveling on the plane to visit Iraq, Pope Francis was presented with a copy of the letter many Iraqi Christians received demanding that they pay the jizya to ISIS. The Pope was also given a copy of an ISIS pricelist for Christian and Yazidi women and girls who were sold like cattle in slave markets. The prices varied on the ages of the women and girls. The highest price was for girls under the age of 9 at €160. The Pope was also presented with photos of Christian houses with the “n” for Nazarene painted on them. These documents were presented to the pope by Eva Fernandez, the Italian and Vatican correspondent for the Spanish radio station COPE. The documents were provided to Eva by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Speaking to ACN about presenting the Pope with the documents Eva said:

"It is very important that the international media accompanying the Pope do not lose sight of who the real protagonists of the trip are: The Christians in Iraq who have been waiting so long for a Pope to visit their cities. For it is very easy to lose focus and get caught up in questions of security, or whether it is appropriate to travel to Iraq in times of a pandemic...The fact that the Pope is shown such shocking documents on the outbound flight helps not to lose the actual focus of the trip, and also to talk about it…This is a real testament to the horror of such a recent past. It will be very difficult not to be moved by the heroism of all the families I will meet and whom you have been helping for so long. Without “Aid to the Church in Need” they would no longer be in Iraq and it would be impossible to meet them. For this reason, you will be very present for me on this trip."

It is hoped by many that the Pope’s visit will highlight the genocide the Iraqi Christians have been subjected to recent decades. It is believed the Christian population of Iraq has dropped from 1.5 million to around 250,000 in less than twenty years.