Rocket Strikes McGivney House in Erbil, Iraq

April 1, 2026

By Columbia staff

April 1, 2026

The chapel of McGivney House in Erbil, Iraq, is shown after a March 4 rocket strike. The apartment building was constructed with help from the Knights of Columbus to house Christian families displaced by persecution and violence carried out by the Islamic State group. (Photo by Aemel Waad / Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil)

McGivney House, a 140-unit apartment complex in Erbil, Iraq, was partially damaged during a rocket strike March 4. The strike came four days after the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

Built with help from the Knights of Columbus, the complex opened in February 2019 to house Christian families displaced from the Nineveh Plains after the Islamic State group overran the region in 2014.

Located in Ankawa, the Christian- majority district of Erbil, the apartment building was unoccupied at the time of the strike, having been evacuated several days earlier due to its proximity to Erbil International Airport. The chapel of McGivney House, which is affiliated with the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil, was significantly damaged.

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil, Iraq, stands in front of McGivney House in 2018. (Photo by Claire Thomas)

“We thank God that no injuries were reported among the residents of the complex, nor among the security forces,” the archdiocese said in a March 4 statement. “Security personnel and civil defense teams promptly arrived at the scene to take the necessary measures and assess the extent of the damage. We pray that God protects everyone from harm and grants peace and safety throughout the country.”

McGivney House provides high quality, rent-free apartments to young families in need, for a period of five years each. Previously, it also had a floor dedicated to elderly residents, which included an on-site medical team. Missionaries who serve the archdiocese and local Catholic schools reside in a separate wing during their service in Erbil.

Prior to the Iraq War in 2003, close to 1.5 million Christians lived in Iraq, out of a population of 25 million. Years of instability and violence reduced that number dramatically. After Islamic State militants seized towns and persecuted Christian communities across northern Iraq in 2014, an estimated 300,000 Christians remained in the country. Projects such as McGivney House have helped to sustain Iraq’s diminishing Christian community, which currently numbers some 150,000 people, or less than half of 1% of the population. Those who remain now face new fears amid the Iran war.

Then-Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and Archbishop Warda place an image of Father Michael McGivney in McGivney House. — Then-Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and Archbishop Warda place an image of Father Michael McGivney in the McGivney House chapel in March 2019. (Photo by Tamino Petelinsek)

“We keep strong in faith and hope. We have to have that hope, and we are building from that hope,” said Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil in an interview with OSV News. “But we cannot deny the fears, worries and concerns. You can feel it.”

Since the Supreme Council launched the Christian Refugee Relief Fund in 2014, it has contributed more than $20 million in support of Iraqi Christians.

“We will continue to stand with the families who called McGivney House their home,” said Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly in a March 4 statement. “We join with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, who has encouraged us all to ‘pray for peace, work for peace.’”

A blacksmith hammers a piece of heated metal.

Rocket Strikes McGivney House in Erbil, Iraq

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