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ROME: On the eve of his historic trip to Iraq, Pope Francis paid tribute to those who have suffered from years of violence, saying he came as a “pilgrim of peace”.
In a video message, the 84-year-old offered his hand to “brothers and sisters of other religions”, but also highlighted the heavy toll paid by Iraq’s Christian communities, saying there had been “too many martyrs”.
“I long to meet you, to see your faces, to visit your land, ancient and extraordinary cradle of civilisation,” the pope said. “I come as a pilgrim, a penitent pilgrim to implore forgiveness and reconciliation from the Lord after years of war and terrorism.”
“I come as a pilgrim of peace in search of fraternity, animated by the desire to pray together and to walk together, also with the brothers and sisters of other religions,” he added.
The pope, making his first foreign trip since the coronavirus pandemic swept Europe a year ago, will arrive in Iraq on Friday before embarking on a packed schedule of events till Sunday.
From central Baghdad to the Shia shrine city of Najaf, welcome banners featuring his image and Arabic title “Baba al-Vatican” already dot the streets while roads are being paved and churches rehabilitated in ravaged Christian towns in the north,
Among the most extraordinary moments of the trip will be his one-on-one meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highly reclusive cleric, who is a top religious authority for many Shia Muslims.
Francis is fulfilling the dream of a predecessor, John Paul II, by visiting Iraq despite a rampaging coronavirus epidemic and an upsurge in violence.
The security challenges were highlighted when a rocket attack hit a base hosting US-led coalition troops, which came after several weeks of escalating US-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil. The pope said on he was determined not to “disappoint” the Iraqi people.
The concerns over security and tight restrictions imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19 mean that most Iraqis will have to follow the trip on television. The crowds at his events have been strictly limited while he will mostly travel in an armoured, covered car.
Iraq’s Christian community is one of the oldest and most diverse in the world, with Chaldeans and other Catholics making up around half, along with Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and others.
By 2003, when the US-led invasion toppled then-dictator Saddam Hussein, Christians made up around six percent of Iraq’s 25 million people. After years of bloodshed, its numbers have fallen to just 400,000 today.
The pope said he was “honoured to meet a martyred Church” and thanked them for their faith. There had been “too many martyrs”, he said, while survivors “have in your eyes the images of destroyed houses and desecrated churches, and in your hearts the wounds of loved ones left behind and homes abandoned”.
Francis also paid tribute to the minority Yazidi community, “who have suffered so much”. Thousands of Yazidis were killed and women taken into sexual slavery when the Islamic State swept through Iraq in 2014.
