POPE, AYATOLLAH CALL FOR PEACE

Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric affirms Christians should have full constitutional rights

Pope Francis walked through a narrow alley in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf for a historic meeting with the country’s top Shiite cleric Saturday, and together they delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence in a country still reeling from back-to-back conflicts over the past decade.

In a gesture both simple and profound, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-sistani welcomed Francis into his spartan home. The 90-yearold cleric, one of the most eminent among Shiites worldwide, afterward said Christians should live in peace in Iraq and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis. The Vatican said Francis thanked al-sistani for having “raised his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted” during some of the most violent times in Iraq’s recent history,

Later in the day, the pope attended a gathering of Iraqi religious leaders in the desert near a symbol of the country’s ancient past — the 6,000-year-old ziggurat in the Plains of Ur, also the traditional birthplace of Abraham, the biblical patriarch revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The joint appearance by figures from across Iraq’s sectarian spectrum was almost unheard of, given their communities’ often bitter divisions.

Together, the day’s events gave symbolic and practical punch to the central message of Francis’ visit, calling for Iraq to embrace its diversity. In al-sistani, Francis sought the help of an ascetic, respected figure who is immersed in those sectarian identities but is also a powerful voice standing above them.

Al-sistani is one of the most senior clerics in Shiite Islam, deeply revered among Shiites in Iraq and worldwide. In a statement issued by his office after the meeting, al-sistani affirmed that Christians should “live like all Iraqis, in security and peace and with full constitutional rights.”

Iraqis cheered the meeting, and the prime minister responded to it by declaring March 6 a National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence in Iraq.

ANDREW MEDICHINI AP Women wait outside the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday where Pope Francis, depicted on a giant poster at their back, was celebrating Mass.