ROME (AP) – Pope Francis will meet with Iraq’s foremost Shia Muslim cleric, Ali al-Sistani, on a trip next month that also includes a pilgrimage to ancient Christian communities that were emptied and destroyed in battles with the Islamic State group .
The Vatican on Monday released the itinerary of Francis’s March 5-8 visit to Iraq, his first overseas trip since he was grounded for 16 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 84-year-old Pope, who has been vaccinated against COVID-19, apparently plans to continue the journey despite the pandemic and ongoing security concerns.
Francis’s main reason for making the first-ever papal trip to Iraq is to encourage the country’s Christians, who faced decades of discrimination by Iraqi Muslims before being persecuted by the Islamic State group as of 2014. as did St. John Paul II in 2000, but both had to cancel their trips due to security concerns.
On his first day in Baghdad, Francis will meet Catholic priests and nuns at Our Lady of Salvation Church, the site of a 2010 massacre that killed 58 people and was claimed by the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq, which later splintered into ISIS. .
The next day, Francis travels to Najaf, home of al-Sistani, one of the world’s leading Shia leaders. He will also organize an interfaith gathering that day in the ancient city of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham, the prophet common to Muslims, Christians and Jews.
Francis has spent years trying to improve Christian relations with Muslims, and his meeting with al-Sistani will mark one of his most important encounters with a Shia leader. Francis has already forged close ties with the prominent Sunni leader, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the great Imam of Al-Azhar, the seat of Sunni education in Cairo.
Francis’ last full day in Iraq will take him to the Northern Kurdish region, from where he will visit Mosul and Qaraqosh in the Nineveh Plains, the largest Christian city in Iraq where the population fled when IS arrived in 2014.
The slow return of displaced Christians to Northern Iraq since the territory was liberated from the Islamic State in 2017 remains a contentious issue. Few Christian families have returned, but the Vatican is encouraging those who have fled to return and ensure a lasting Christian presence in the area dating back to the time of Christ.
Many Christian families remain displaced in the Kurdish region, saying their homes in Mosul are still destroyed and habitable. Others fear the presence of militias stationed in and around the Ninevah Plains. A predominantly Christian village, Qaraqosh symbolizes the plight of Iraqi Christians since the liberation struggle was fought and won.
IS has a presence in Northern Iraq and can conduct operations through active sleeper cells targeting Iraqi security forces. The attacks in Ninevah have declined over the past year, but the group is active in the nearby provinces of Kirkuk and Diyala.
Francis will also hold a prayer “for the victims of the war” in a church square in Mosul. Many of Mosul’s churches were destroyed during the war by IS fighters and air raids. Its reconstruction has lagged behind for years.
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Samya Kullab contributed from Baghdad.