EMBRACE CHRISTIANS, POPE TELLS IRAQ
PONTIFF DEFIES PANDEMIC AND SECURITY CONCERNS IN BID TO UNITE STRIFE-RIDDEN COUNTRY
Pope Francis opened the first-ever papal visit to Iraq yesterday with an impassioned plea to Iraqis to embrace their Christian brothers.
Brushing aside pandemic and security concerns, the Pope will use his four-day visit to encourage Iraq’s dwindling number of Christians, who were violently persecuted by Daesh and still face discrimination, to stay and help rebuild the country.
First trip in a year
The Pope arrived at Baghdad airport on a breezy afternoon where he was received by Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi. The 84-year-old Pope limped noticeably, indicating that his sciatica may have flared up again. The condition forced him to cancel several events earlier this year.
He told reporters aboard the papal plane that he was happy to resume his globe-trotting papacy after a year-long hiatus spent under Covid-19 lockdown in Vatican City “This is an emblematic journey,” he said. “It is also a duty to a land tormented by many years.”
Bulletproof BMW
Hundreds gathered in small clusters to see him being driven into Baghdad in a bulletproof BMW, a departure for a pope who normally insists on using small, normal cars. A motorcade of dozens of vehicles accompanied him out of the airport compound, which recently came under rocket fire.
Later addressing Iraqi President Barham Saleh, politicians and diplomats at a reception at the presidential palace, the Pope said: “May the clash of arms be silenced ... may there be an end to acts of violence and extremism.”
He criticised factional and foreign interests that have destabilised Iraq and the wider region and hit ordinary people the hardest. “Iraq has suffered the disastrous effects of wars, the scourge of terrorism and sectarian conflicts often grounded in a fundamentalism incapable of accepting the peaceful coexistence of different ethnic and religious groups,” he said.
Later in the day, the Pope prayed at the Baghdad church that was the site of one of the worst massacres of Christians, the 2010 attack by militants that left 58 people dead.
Pope prays for victims of 2010 church massacre
In his sermon at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, he said: “We are gathered in this cathedral, hallowed by the blood of our brothers and sisters who here paid the ultimate price of their fidelity to the Lord and his Church.”
Weekend engagements
The highlight of the Pope’s historic visit is his meeting today with Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani in the city of Najaf.
Tomorrow, the Pope will honour the dead in a Mosul square surrounded by shells of destroyed churches and meet the small Christian community that returned to Qaraqosh, where he will bless their church that was used as a firing range by Daesh.
This is an emblematic journey. It is also a duty to a land tormented by many years. May the clash of arms be silenced ... may there be an end to acts of violence and extremism.”
Pope Francis | Head of the Roman Catholic Church