Pope Francis gives his blessing as he prepares to leave Italy for Iraq on Friday
Credit: Cecilia Fabiano/ LaPresse via AP
Pope Francis landed in Baghdad on Friday afternoon on the first ever papal visit to Iraq, where he will rally the country’s dwindling Christian population and preach coexistence.
An honour guard dressed in red coats and white plumed helmets flanked the red carpet where a large delegation greeted the 84-year-old pontiff as he descended the red-carpeted stairs at Baghdad airport.
The Pope then sat with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi at the airport and was later scheduled to meet President Barham Salih.
About 10,000 special forces, soldiers and police have been deployed across the country to provide security ahead of the three day-day visit – his first overseas trip since the pandemic began – with Iraq’s government eager to demonstrate it has moved past its dark years of violence.
But the Pope will travel in special armoured vehicles as militia and terrorist attacks are ongoing, most recently on Wednesday when 10 rockets were fired at an Iraqi base in Anbar province hosting American forces.
Amid an economic downturn and worsening coronavirus outbreak that has prompted lockdowns across the country, many Iraqis – Christian and Muslim alike – say they are excited by the Pope’s visit, even if the pandemic restrictions mean few will be able to see him in person.
A woman holds a picture of Pope Francis as she waits for his arrival
Credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI /REUTERS
“The Pope’s visit is a real world embodiment of the love of Jesus to our troubled land, a place of violence and conflict,” said Saleem Mansour Gorgees, a church deacon in Erbil.
The visit was all the more precious given the potential danger the Pope would face, he said: “He is taking a risk to stand with us.”
Iraq was once home to a diverse mosaic of religious faiths but many have faced precipitous decline in recent years amid rising intolerance and violence. Almost all of Iraq’s Jews left the country during the 1950s and much of its Christian community – one of the world’s oldest – has followed in a similar exodus in recent decades.
An estimated 1.4 million Christians lived in Iraq 20 years ago, but today church officials estimate that only a few hundred thousand Christians remain in the country, most living in the relative safety of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.
Pope Francis was scheduled on Friday to visit Baghdad’s Sayidat al-Nejat Cathedral, the site of several attacks on Christians in recent years.
The Our Lady of salvation church was one of the five churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul that were targeted by near simultaneous car bombings in August 2004.
The bombings, which killed 12 people, were the first direct attacks on Christians following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. It marked the start of a wave of violence, extortion and crime targeting minorities that would see hundreds of thousands of Christians leave the country.
Pope Francis disembarks a plane as he arrives at Baghdad International Airport
Credit: REUTERS TV
The church was also the site of the worst ever massacre of Christians in Iraq. During the 2010 attack, six suicide jihadists killed two priests during Sunday mass and took over 100 worshippers hostage before the church was stormed by Iraqi security forces and US troops. In all, 58 worshippers, priests, police and bystanders died in the attack.
The Pope hopes his visit will help Iraq overcome such violence by promoting religious coexistence.
“I come as a pilgrim, a penitent pilgrim to implore forgiveness and reconciliation from the Lord after years of war and terrorism,” Pope Francis said ahead of his arrival.
On Saturday he will travel to the Shiite Holy city of Najaf to meet Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential leader of Iraq’s Shiite Muslims. He will also attend an interreligious meeting in Ur, which scripture records as the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, the father of the three Abrahamic faiths.
"I am coming among you also as a pilgrim of peace,” Pope Francis said, “seeking fraternity and prompted by the desire to pray together and to walk together, also with our brothers and sisters of other religious traditions, in the steps of Father Abraham, who joins in one family Muslims, Jews and Christians."
A man holds an Iraqi flag as he waits for the arrival of Pope Francis
Credit: THAIER AL-SUDANI /REUTERS
On Sunday he will travel to northern Iraq to visit the autonomous Kurdistan region – which in recent years has become a haven for Christians – and Nineveh province.
Once Iraq’s Christian heartland, most Christians fled Nineveh in 2014 after Islamic State militants seized much of the province, including its capital Mosul.
Much of the city is still in ruins following the nine month battle to liberate the city that ended in 2017 and UN-funded working parties have been clearing rubble ahead of the Pope’s visit to the Old City, which is home to a number of historic churches.
Despite being home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, no pope has ever visited Iraq.
Iraq recognises 14 Christian sects including Chaldeans, Syriacs and Assyrians.
The most numerous are Chaldeans, an Eastern Rite church founded in Mesopotamia that recognises the Pope but uses a version of Aramaic in services and maintains its own traditions and rituals.
Smaller denominations include Armenians and Arab Christians, including Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Roman Catholic and Protestants.
Pope John Paul II cancelled a planned trip to Iraq at the end of 1999 after negotiations with Saddam Hussein broke down.
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