Due to this presence and the many Christian families moving into Baghdad's newer areas, including Karada where the Cathedral is located, a primitive but modest Church was built in 1952 before the current cathedral was erected while the primitive Church was turned into a place for condolences, used during mourning periods.

The cathedral was designed by a Polish man named Kafka with the help of the Romaya engineering agency.

The dead corpses of the victims covered the floors of the cathedral and the walls were full of bullet holes.

[6] After the stand-off, Mgr Pios Cacha, a member of the cathedral, entered the building and took pictures of every single dead victim, one by one.

The attack was expected by Father Thaier Abdullah due to the Dove World Outreach Center Quran burnings by Reverend Terry Jones on September 11, 2010, which caused massive outrage and anti-Christian hatred.

A police car sat outside the cathedral right across the road and concrete bollards, razor wire, and oil drums filled with cement barricaded the entrance.

[8] Father Thaier also said in an interview: I would like to send a message to the pastor who is in America; he lives in a society that protects humans and religious beliefs.

[8]In 2011, works on the complete renovation and restoration of the cathedral began as decided by Mgr Matti Shaba Matoka, archbishop of Baghdad.

At the end of the mass, a “queen of patience” of the cathedral was chosen to be a heavily physically and mentally disabled person named "Nour.

In the cupola, above the choir, is a mosaic picture made of earthenware tiles features the coronation of Mary.