Emotions ran high when the church bell tolled for the first time in more than two years.

"It is very encouraging to witness the faith of the community of Christians living in that enclosed space and also in the midst of a huge Muslim community majority," said Cardinal Nichols.

The president of the Canadian bishops’ conference has written a frank letter to Canada’s federal immigration minister urging immediate government action to unclog delays in processing refugee applicants. Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, wro

"The cradle of civilizations and the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Middle East has become the theater of incredible brutality," said Archbishop Bernardito Auza.

Trying to impose the will of the United States on Iraq (and now Syria) took a deadly toll, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, destroying much of modern and ancient Iraq, sending into exile millions of refugees—and created ISIS.

International humanitarian organizations are warning that Iraqis, mainly Sunni Muslims, left in Mosul are "now in grave danger."