That night, the family buried him and fled Qaraqosh, a Christian enclave near Mosul, along with thousands of others.

Five years later, the farmer is back on his land, replanting trees and coaxing it back to life.

His community is growing back to encouraged by an active local clergy, which helped Hamas and others rebuild.

When we came back, we filed an application at the church.

We went to Father Georges and they finished our house.

Pope Francis will visit Caracas on Sunday as part of a four day tour of Iraq, the first ever by a pope.

About half the town's Christians have returned, a rare ray of hope for a community devastated by years of Islamist violence.

That's down to church leaders, who hatched a plan to encourage families back to the town of 50,000 people by rebuilding houses first, then churches.

Funds came mainly from Christian organizations abroad.

Father, Georgia, Hola was put in charge.

We have this piece of land.

We have inherited this small patch of land from our ancestors.

If we lose it, we lose our identity.

Caracas boasts the Grand Immaculate Church, Iraq's biggest restored now after it was damaged and burned.

Pope Francis's visit is a source of pride for a community that remains vulnerable, and morale was high for the volunteers who danced and sang as they cleaned and decorated it in preparation.

Mhm, yeah, mhm.