Pope ‘reborn’ by trip to Iraq after year spent ‘imprisoned’

POPE FRANCIS said he felt “reborn” by his historic trip to Iraq after a year of Covid-19 travel restrictions left him feeling “imprisoned” in the Vatican.

Like most of the rest of the world, the pontiff had been grounded by the global pandemic and several foreign trips in 2020 had to be cancelled.

The four-day trip to Iraq, in which he met Shia religious leaders and witnessed the devastation wrought by the Islamic State, was his first visit abroad in 15 months.

In Italy a national lockdown was declared exactly a year ago, and Covid restrictions had left Francis “feeling like I was imprisoned”, he told journalists on board the plane that brought him back to Rome after his visit.

The Pope said the trip, which took him to Baghdad, Mosul and Erbil, had been a lot more tiring than previous journeys overseas. He is 84, suffers from sciatica and had part of one lung removed in his youth.

But the trip has evidently emboldened the Pope and his planners. He announced he would go to Budapest in September for the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress.

He said he might tack on a trip to Slovakia, noting that the capital, Bratislava, is just two hours’ drive from Budapest.

He said he also wanted to visit Lebanon, which is engulfed in political crisis, economic breakdown and surging coronavirus numbers.

Francis arrived in Iraq just as the country was hit by a new surge in infections, and his visit led crowds to assemble in several churches and a stadium.

Asked about the potential danger to Iraqis posed by his visit, the Pope said he took the decision to go “conscious of the risks” and “prayed a lot over it”.