FIRST IN TWO MILLENNIA

The first ever visit of a catholic pope to Iraq took place on March 5-8, 2021. The program of the visit was very busy. Pope Francis, as the spiritual leader of the Catholics of the world, met with spiritual and political leaders of the country, as well as the victims of the long-standing war in Iraq. He also spread messages of unity and brotherhood to everyone.

During the visit, the Pope visited several cities in Iraq, including Baghdad, Erbil, Najaf, Ur, Garagush and Mosul. He prayed for Iraq and Iraqis, who cannot enjoy peace and tranquillity for almost forty years, criticized the countries that caused and supported the war in Iraq.

Following the Last Girl

Pope Francis became the first leader of Vatican to set foot in Iraq in nearly 2,000 years of the papal era. Iraq was chosen for a number of reasons. Among them are terror and chaos that have reigned in Iraq for many years, despite it being a country where world religions historically intertwine, where the human rights activist Nadia Murad defends the rights of Yezidis.

The visit to Iraq also demonstrated the removal of the lockdown restrictions on international travel. According to Francis, he decided to visit Iraq after reading the book The Last Girl by Nadia Murad, which has become widely popular in the world. Murad is a Yezidi Kurdish woman from Iraq who was captured and tortured following the assault of ISIS militants to her native village in 2014. Murad was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in protecting women's rights. The Pope admitted that it was Murad's book that further encouraged him to visit Iraq.

Perhaps the best phrase to describe Pope Francis's visit to Iraq would be You are all brothers taken from the Bible. In a public statement made before the visit, the Pope noted that he was going to make a pilgrimage to Iraq.

Messages from the homeland of prophets

At the Baghdad airport, the Pope was greeted by the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kazimi. Later, in the presidential palace, Francis met with Iraqi President Berham Saleh and delivered a speech to the country's political and religious leaders.

In his speech, the Pope criticised armament, calling on all conflicting parties to stop the bloodshed. At the same time, he advocated the prevention of any struggle for local and foreign interests that do not benefit the ordinary Iraqi people. He called for everyone to stop the violence, radicalism and sectarianism in order to jointly rebuild the country and to fight corruption.

A similar statement was made regarding Mosul, which was occupied and destroyed by ISIS in 2014-2017. On the way back from Iraq, the Pope answered the questions of journalists and accused the major powers of supporting ISIS, without naming them: “I was standing in front of a destroyed church and did not know what to say. That was incredible. The mosque was in the same condition. Brutality of the people was incredible. While in the church, I was thinking who sells weapons to terrorists? They don't make them at home, do they ?! Who is selling them weapons? Who is responsible for this? I would like the perpetrators to sincerely confess to their deeds. But they remain silent. It's a dirty business."

Undoubtedly, one of the main goals of Pope Francis's visit to Iraq was his interest in the fate of Christians living there. He announced his intention before the visit. As one of the first countries where Christianity began spreading, Iraq has for centuries been a place of peaceful coexistence of Christians with representatives of different religious confessions. But over the past ten years, the situation has worsened. According to a UN report, during this period only about 300,000 of the 1.5 million Christian population of Iraq remains in the country. In 2014, when ISIS occupied the second largest city of Iraq, Mosul, 136,000 Christian Kurds fled to Europe.

At the same time, ISIS has not spared the Christian heritage. In Mosul and Nineveh alone, 85 churches and three Christian cemeteries were destroyed, accounting for 70% of the total number of Christian churches in the area. Only few of them have been restored.

The first outflow of Christians from Iraq took place in 2003, when the country underwent an American invasion. As a result, some Iraqi Christians found refuge in the relatively calm Kurdish autonomy, while others fled to the countries of the region or to Europe. After ISIS occupied Mosul, most of them left the country.

The Pope also took part in an event organized in the historic city of Ur and dedicated to interfaith dialogue. He celebrated liturgies in the Mosul church and at the Erbil stadium in order to draw attention to Iraqi Christians, give them strength and inspiration. However, given what the Pope Francis saw and heard in Iraq prove that this will not be an easy task. Even during the period of relative tranquillity after 2003, many Iraqi Christians did not want to return to their former homeland. Only a small number of local Christians admit they will remain in Iraq, despite all the difficulties and risks.

Meeting with the Great Sage

The most interesting episode of Francis’s stay in Iraq was a visit to the city of Najaf, the scientific and historical centre of the Shiite community of the country. There he met with one of the spiritual leaders of Shiites, Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. Despite the original plan to limit the conversation between the two leaders to half an hour only, it took almost twice as long. After the event, Pope Francis admitted that he "liked it."

According to Francis, some conservative Catholics are likely to consider the meeting with Al-Sistani as "a step towards heresy." However, the need to take risks in order to improve relations between different religions justifies his actions. Calling Ayatollah Al-Sistani “the great sage,” the Pope noted with satisfaction that Al-Sistani has twice greeted him standing as a sign of respect for his person, although he usually prefers not to do this in front of his guests. “I felt an urgent need to meet this great sage, a man from God,” the Pope said later.

Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Al-Sistani is the leader of the Iraqi Shiites, head of a religious seminary in Najaf. He is originally from Sistan-Baluchistan region of Iran but has been living in Iraq for many years. Al-Sistani was a student and son-in-law of the previous religious leader of Najaf, Ayatollah Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Khoi of Azerbaijani origin. After the death of Ayatollah Khoi in 1992, Sistani was elected head of the scientific and religious centre of Najaf, Hawza Ilmiyya.

Al-Sistani has tremendous influence in Iraq. At the same time, in Iran, the Middle East and Europe, a large number of believers refer to his Sharia fatwas. He rarely intervenes in politics, only when the country is experiencing a government crisis or when events are fateful for the country. In these cases, he expresses his position and limits himself to appeals to the political forces of Iraq and its people. In 2014, when ISIS invaded and occupied Mosul, Al-Sistani called for jihad, which resulted in 100,000 people volunteering to join the army in just three days. The ISIS attack took place after this event. At the same time, Al-Sistani does not distance himself from the West, each time showing his readiness to conduct interfaith dialogue. He has repeatedly called for the protection and care of members of other faiths and religions in Iraq, including Christians, and has won sympathy around the world.

In support of dialogue with the Islamic world, Pope Francis, knowing about the virtues of Al-Sistani, has planned a meeting with the Shiite leader during his stay in Iraq. By the way, this is not Francis’s first meeting with influential Islamic scholars. In 2019, he visited the United Arab Emirates, where he met with Ahmad al-Tayyib, head of the scientific council of the Al-Azhar University and one of the greatest scholars of the Muslim world. Then both religious leaders signed a joint statement for the "brotherhood of people" and in support of the fight against radicalism.

Along with the positive and encouraging aspects of the Iraqi voyage of the Pope Fracis, this visit refreshed the collective memory of the world community about this country, which has been suffering from wars and violence for more than 30 years. Sure, the Pope has no significant influence on the political processes in Iraq. But his visit could be a source of hope for humanity in general and for the desperate people of Iraq in particular.

In this sense, Pope Francis's tour attracted a lot of attention and sympathy around the world. The US President Joe Biden called it "a symbol of hope for the whole world." In the past 18 years, Iraq has become a "swamp" for the United States itself. That’s why Washington is interested in ovecoming the deadlock more than others. And that’s the reason the White House welcomed the Pope's visit to Iraq calling it a historic one.

But with all its advantages, the Pope Francis’s visit to Iraq once again reminded of the deep problems that exist in this predominantly Arab country. With a population of 40 million and rich natural resources, Iraq has nevertheless become the target of constant terrorist attacks that have brought the country to a dilapidated state. Therefore, it is hard to believe that the problems of Iraq will be resolved in the near future amid constant threats from ISIS. In fact, the visit of the Pope was safeguarded by more than 10,000 security personnel, which also confirms the previous statement. The Pope’s visit is over, but Iraq’s problems remain.