Vatican insists Iraq is not safe enough for visit from the Pope

The Vatican’s secretary of state said Iraq is not yet safe enough for a papal visit, because there is still the risk of an attack by extremists.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the Catholic TV channel, TV2000, that the issue of militant violence in the country has not been resolved.

Cardinal Parolin spoke about the security situation following a visit to the country, saying a papal trip to Iraq imposed a “minimum of conditions” that are not yet being met.

The Pope will visit Abu Dhabi next month before heading to Morocco in March.

Iraq has been a battleground for competing forces and is still fighting the remnants of ISIS, who swept across the country in 2014 and seized major cities such as Mosul and Fallujah.

Although security in parts of the country, such as Bagdhad, have improved significantly – leading to the removal of some concrete blast walls, checkpoints and the opening of the secure diplomatic Green Zone area – large areas of the county are plagued by instability, militant cells and intercommunal violence.

Cardinal Parolin said the Iraqi authorities confirmed “the roots of this phenomenon are still present” in the country.

Pope Francis has made strengthening ties between Christianity and Islam a cornerstone of his papacy.

Cardinal Parolin told Vatican News last weekend that the pontiff wanted to visit Iraq: “It would certainly be a great encouragement to Iraqis in the difficulties they have to face.”

The Pope has visited several Muslim countries already, including Turkey in 2014, Azerbaijan in 2016 and Egypt a year later.

The Roman Catholic Church has released details of how tickets will be distributed for the large public mass that will mark Pope Francis’s visit to the UAE. It will be held at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi on February 5.

Although 120,000 people will witness the Mass in person, Paul Hinder, Catholic Bishop for southern Arabia, said it was inevitable that many more would be unable to attend.

The Roman Catholic community has been urged not to compete for tickets.

Bishop Hinder said that, since the visit was announced last month, church leaders had been working behind the scenes to devise a system that would distribute tickets “in the most just way”.

Pope Francis moved quickly after his election in 2013 to make overtures to Muslims and Jews, inviting two old friends from Buenos Aires – a Muslim professor and a rabbi – on a trip to the Middle East, where the Pope condemned religious hatred.