Pope treads new ground in Iraq visit
One was dressed in white robes, the other in black. One was in a country slowly recovering from a long war, as the head of the world’s Catholic Christians. The other as the most senior and respected cleric in that country and as a senior figure in Shia Islam.
The meeting between Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq, was stunningly historic and profound.
Francis was going where no pope had gone before; to a country where hundreds of thousands of people have died in conflict, including masscasualty bombings in civilian areas.
The Vatican said the two men had “underlined the importance of collaboration”. Sistani, 90, said spiritual leaders should make an effort to curb the tragedies of oppression, persecution and violence.
Security was on a huge scale for the visit as there are still outbreaks of militia violence — nearly two decades after the 2003 US-led invasion, civil war, al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Isis caliphate. It went ahead despite the pandemic and ran the risk of stirring new infections.
Still it matters that the Pontiff showed up and said what he wanted to on the ground rather than from a safe, far away, distance. Bravely putting himself at personal risk has added weight to his call for unity. The meeting with Sistani took place in the cleric’s home and the Pope, 84, who arrived in a bullet-proof car, still had to walk down a narrow alleyway to get there, limping from sciatica.
Iraq is important to different faiths and the fourday papal visit was meant to encourage religious tolerance and co-existence in a country where there has been extensive sectarian conflict. Shia Muslims are the majority but there are Sunni Muslims, Kurds and a small, dwindling, population of Christians.
Francis celebrated with worshippers at a mass in Baghdad. Our Lady of Salvation was the site of a massacre in 2010 when Islamic militants killed 58 people. The Pope said that “inciting war, hateful attitudes, violence or the shedding of blood are incompatible with authentic religious teachings”.
At a mixed-faith gathering at ancient Ur, the Pope said: “We need one another”. He said near the 6000-year-old ziggurat in the desert plains that all faiths “look up at the same sky”. The site is near the traditional birthplace of Abraham, a figure important to Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Iraq needs practical help. It suffers from endemic, hard-to-improve problems such as a battling economy, poor infrastructure, overwhelmed services, insufficient investment and corruption. Symbolism and the power of personal example can only go so far, but they at least open up possibilities, may prompt changes in behaviour, and are a necessary counter to a near-constant diet of doom and destruction, fear and misinformation.
“We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion,” Francis said. “Dark clouds of terrorism, war and violence have gathered over this country. All its ethnic and religious communities have suffered.” It was a welcome show of support for a battered but resilient country and people who have suffered more than most.
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