Visit of Pope Francis to Iraq (2021)

Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic church, was the first pontiff to visit Iraq. On a four-day pilgrimage he visited Baghdad, Najaf, Ur, Mosul, Qaraqosh and Erbil from 5 to 8 March 2021. The Iraq visit followed the signing of the Document on "Human Fraternity for world peace and living together" by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed Al Tayeb in the United Arab Emirate in February 2019. During his visit to Iraq, Pope Francis highlighted the historical and contextual importance of the Abrahamic Covenant while exploring potential commonalities and differences among the monotheistic religions. 

Historically, Iraq has a uniquely rich Aramaic, or Syriac, Christian history, with additional Armenian, Coptic and Protestant minorities. Since 2003, Christians have been under constant threats by terrorist groups. After the official reception by former President Barham Salih, the Pope visited the Sayidat Al Najat Cathedral. Back in 2010, 47 Syriac Catholics were assaulted by a commando of six jihadis from Al Qaeda during a mass in the church. He visited the Church of the Holy Spirit and Al Taherah in Nineveh, which were bombed during 2014 and 2017 ISIL occupation and spoke about peace. 

For many Iraqis, the meeting between Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Al Sistani on the second day was the most important moment during his visit because Sistani is an Islamic and Shiite symbol, highly appreciated across religious divides, because he defends Sunni, Shia, and Christians alike.  Directly after the meeting, the Pope made a pilgrimage to the historical site of Ur in southern Iraq. Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) is the Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He is the so-called "father of faith", who was born in the ancient city of Ur (according to both, the bible and quran). Pope Francis performed in Ur the Assisi Prayer as a way of asking for peace together. In his speech, he stated: "Violence, extremism, and hostility do not spring from a religious spirit. Instead, they are all betrayals of religion. (…) We must walk from 'conflict to unity' for the sake of "peace for the whole of the Middle East."

On the third day, the Pope's Iraqi pilgrimage led him to Mosul, a city where the majority of Iraqi Christians lived, at least before the occupation of ISIL. The pope prayed in Hosh Al Bieaa, which holds the ruins of four churches that were destroyed by ISIL. The extremist organisation destroyed more than 30 churches in and around Mosul. The pope promised to support the reconstruction of Mosul and stated: "Whatever our religious tradition, live in harmony and peace, conscious that in the eyes of God, we are all brothers and sisters." Pope Francis ended his trip by holding a mass at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Erbil with almost 20,000 worshippers present.

The visit of the pope coincided with the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Iraq. He was following an invitation of the government of Iraq and the Chaldean Catholic Church of Iraq. The Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities received 1,000 journalists from various parts of the world to cover the visit. Following the pontiff's visit, former Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi declared the day of the meeting between Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, which was the 6 March, as Iraq's National Day of Coexistence and Tolerance.

This article was written by Hella Mewis and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.