The Syriac Catholic bishop of Mosul, Iraq, His Excellency Younan Hano, with other bishops of the ecclesiastical region, inaugurates the new church dedicated to the Holy Face. In the background the Jewish "Menorah" and an enlargement of the Holy Face of Manoppello
This article originally appeared in the publication of the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello, "Il Volto Santo di Manoppello" No. 1, 2026, June edition.
by Polus Gajo
"May the Lord bless you
and protect you; may the Lord make
His Face shine upon you
and be propitious to you; may the Lord turn
His Face to you and grant you peace"
(Priestly blessing
from Numbers 6:24-26)
In March 2024 we went to Manoppello in Abruzzo for a few days' retreat at the beautiful
Shrine of the Holy Face, cared for by the Capuchin friars. In April
of the same year, for Easter, we were in Iraq, in my birthplace of Qaraqosh
(called by us Bakhdida), on the plain of Nineveh around 30 kilometers from Mosul.
In Qaraqosh, paying a visit to my bishop, His Excellency Younan Hano, head of the
diocese of Mosul, we brought him as a gift a precious reproduction of the Holy Face. His
Excellency Younan Hano received it with evident joy and immediately put in the center of
his library, at his desk, in the place of honor. We shared together our emotion at having had
the privilege of approaching this extraordinary Face.
of the same year, for Easter, we were in Iraq, in my birthplace of Qaraqosh
(called by us Bakhdida), on the plain of Nineveh around 30 kilometers from Mosul.
In Qaraqosh, paying a visit to my bishop, His Excellency Younan Hano, head of the
diocese of Mosul, we brought him as a gift a precious reproduction of the Holy Face. His
Excellency Younan Hano received it with evident joy and immediately put in the center of
his library, at his desk, in the place of honor. We shared together our emotion at having had
the privilege of approaching this extraordinary Face.
About a year later, it happened that we were in Iraq, and as usual, we went to
greet the bishop to update him on various projects in progress relating to the tradition of
liturgical Syriac chant (which was probably crystallized around the VII. century). After a
while, he said, "Let's go and visit the church." I believed that he was referring to the well
known church adjacent to his residence, in which he had perhaps undertaken some
new work. Instead, he took us to see a completely new building: A church under
construction on a large area formerly a square. His Excellency Hano was thrilled, and
rightly so. It was a very large building, elegant and majestic, in the shape of the Ark of the
Covenant, with the motifs inspired by the millennial architectural tradition of
Mesopotamia, but with Great Syriac crosses. Inside, he told us, with a big smile: "Here, on
the back wall, behind the altar, there will be a giant reproduction of the Holy Face, 4 meters
high. Of the original.”
During Construction of the New Church
You could feel the intense love he had for Jesus, and also his intimate perception of the
extraordinary nature of this Face, as well as the fact that he had made it his own mission to
make it known here in Iraq, the place of many tribulations, and also of dangers for the
Christian community. More profoundly, his faith was evident that the Lord, through the
Holy Face, would work, convert, sustain.
Faithful to his vocation and with courage, where a few years earlier, ISIS had eradicated all
the crosses he was bringing the Face of Jesus. My wife said: "This church will be unique; it
will not be like any other." "That's right," His Excellency Younan Hano replied happily.
Then he said to us: "Here, outside the church, on the side behind the altar, I plan to
construct a building that will also be a School for the liturgical chant of our ancient
Aramaic tradition". The news caused our joy to increase even greater. In a year, he had
raised up from out of nowhere this wonderful church, which would have the Holy Face –
True Door to the eternity of God – at its center.
In mid-February 2026, a few weeks before the beginning of the war in Iran - which
has many repercussions on Iraq - we were again there to support, with a violin Masterclass,
the music school (which should precisely evolve into an institutional reality). "Let's go
to see the church," the bishop told us once again. This time, it was almost finished,
now with its gold-colored walls, adorned with writings in Syriac (including the Ten
Commandments, and phrases taken from the writings of the Syriac Fathers such as
St. Ephrem, which affirm faith in Christ) and the windows surrounded by Sumerian
lyres, of ancient style. Inside, the immense reproduction, on wood (using a refined wood
burning art technique), of the Holy Face, on the main wall, behind the altar. On the sides of
the church, above, using the same technique, the design of the stations of the Via
Crucis. From a large cross surrounded by a circle placed on the ceiling above the altar
starts a ray of light that crosses the ceiling and ends up on the Cross, at the station of the
crucifixion.
Behind the Holy Face, the great candelabrum of the Hebrew tradition, the Menorah, with
seven arms, which originally burned in the Temple of Jerusalem.
While in the Jewish tradition it symbolizes the seven days of creation and the divine light
the Menorah is received in the Christian symbolism as a prefiguration of divine light,
of Christ as the "Light of the world", and of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. "I will be
criticized for this” said the bishop with a smiling face, a mixture of serene joy and the
awareness of the danger associated with the reference to the Jewish tradition (in a land
where the Jews remained after the end of the Babylonian exile). The seven gifts of the Holy
Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear of God. On the
ceiling, the large inscription in Syriac, "The Cross has triumphed." In the center of the
church, still on the ceiling, a giant wooden Syriac cross, finely worked with the most
elegant designs, and thousands of small crosses. Behind the church, a garden with rose
bushes that spell the word "God". We were speechless, amazed by the
theological and catechetical framework, as well as by the beauty of the implementation.
On March 25, 2026, under the fire of the ongoing war, His Excellency Younan Hano
inaugurated and consecrated the new church.
The bishop Younan Hana with two Iraqi priests reads the decree of opening
the new church to the public
Serving as a message and a promise that Jesus, using the courageous faith and the capacity
for implementation of the Syriac Catholic bishop of Mosul, gives to the peoples of Iraq and,
beyond them to those of the Middle East. "I am here," says the Holy Face.
The bishop, H.E. Younan Hano, of the Syriac Catholic diocese of Mosul opens the Holy Door of the new church.
"May the Lord bless you
and protect you; may the Lord make
His Face shine upon you
and be propitious to you; may the Lord turn
His Face to you and grant you peace"
(Priestly blessing
from Numbers 6:24-26)
