Pope, first Vatican leader to visit Iraq, calls for healing

Pope Francis made an audacious return to the world stage in the midst of the pandemic Friday when he became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Iraq, seeking to help heal a nation uniquely wounded by violent sectarianism, foreign adventurism and the persecution of minority populations, including his own Christian flock.

By choosing Iraq as his first destination, the 84-year-old Francis plunged directly into the issues of war and peace, poverty, and religious strife. His trip is explicitly designed to deepen ties to Shiite Muslims and encourage a decimated Christian population.

In Baghdad, the pope traveled through empty, locked-down streets. Military helicopters hovered overhead and soldiers lined avenues decorated with Vatican flags and “Mesopotamia Greets You” signs.

The pope’s visit coincided with renewed violence and geopolitical tensions, and some of Francis’ admirers worry that his four-day visit will exacerbate a recent spike in the country’s coronavirus cases.

But his advisers and Iraq’s top prelates insisted social distancing measures would be followed and argued the trip was necessary to show Francis’ closeness to a flock that had suffered terribly.

Francis went on Friday afternoon to Our Lady of Salvation, a Syriac Catholic church where Islamic militants killed 58 people in a 2010 attack. As the pope walked in, making the sign of the cross, the church erupted in ululations and traditional music. “The pope has come, the pope has come!” some of them chanted.

“We are gathered in this Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation, hallowed by the blood of our brothers and sisters who here paid the ultimate price,” Francis said. “Their deaths are a powerful reminder that inciting war, hateful attitudes, violence or the shedding of blood are incompatible with authentic religious teachings.”

The pope met with Iraqi President Barham Salih at the presidential palace as a marching band played. He then went inside and acknowledged in a speech that his visit coincided with the world “trying to emerge from the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

He called for equitable vaccine distribution to countries scarred by “fragility and instability.” A vaccination program began this week in Iraq, where social distancing restrictions are largely ignored.

ANDREW MEDICHINI/AP Pope Francis meets with bishops and priests Friday at the Sayidat al-nejat (Our Lady of Salvation) Cathedral in Baghdad. It was the first visit to Iraq by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.