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Pope Francis and Iraqi President Barham Salih attended a meeting with authorities, civil society leaders and members of the diplomatic corps in the hall of the presidential palace in Baghdad March 5.
Pope Francis and Iraqi President Barham Salih attended a meeting with authorities, civil society leaders and members of the diplomatic corps in the hall of the presidential palace in Baghdad March 5.
Photo Credit: Paul Haring | Catholic News Service

Pope arrives in Iraq, promoting peace, tolerance, equality

After arrival, Pope Francis said 'I come as a pilgrim of peace in the name of Christ, the prince of peace'

BAGHDAD — To consolidate peace and ensure progress, the government and people of Iraq must never treat anyone as a second-class citizen and must work each day to promote harmony, Pope Francis said.

“Fraternal coexistence calls for patient and honest dialogue, protected by justice and by respect for law,” he said March 5, addressing Iraqi President Barham Salih, other government leaders and diplomats serving in Iraq.

The appointment with civic and cultural leaders at the presidential palace in Baghdad came shortly after the pope landed in Iraq for his first foreign trip in 15 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pope held a brief meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in a lounge at the Baghdad airport before heading into the city under tight security.

Pope Francis received flowers from children during a welcoming ceremony with Iraqi President Barham Salih at the presidential palace in Baghdad March 5.
Photo Credit: Vatican Media
Outside the airport, in five or six large groups along the highway, hundreds of Iraqis waved Vatican or Iraqi flags as the pope passed. Forced to use a bullet-proof car, the pope rode to the presidential palace in a black BMW 750i; the sedan was flanked most of the way by security officials on motorcycles, but as the motorcade neared the palace, it was accompanied by officers on horseback.

The president welcomed Pope Francis as a “great and dear guest,” expressing his gratitude that the pope made the trip “despite recommendations to postpone the visit because of the exceptional circumstances the world is going through because of the pandemic and despite the difficult conditions that our wounded nation is going through” with sporadic waves of violence.

Facing those dangers and visiting anyway “in reality doubles the value of your visit in the eyes of Iraqis,” the president told the pope.

His first speech of the trip, the pope outlined the themes expected to resonate throughout the March 5-8 visit: paying homage to the Christians martyred by Islamic militants over the past 20 years; insisting belief in one God, the father of all, means all people are brothers and sisters; encouraging a continued commitment to rebuilding the physical and social fabric of the country, including with international aid; and condemning all recourse to violence.

Repeating a phrase he used in a video message to the Iraqi people on the eve of his visit, Pope Francis told the civic authorities, “I come as a penitent, asking forgiveness of heaven and my brothers and sisters for so much destruction and cruelty. I come as a pilgrim of peace in the name of Christ, the prince of peace.”

“May the clash of arms be silenced! May their spread be curbed, here and everywhere,” the pope said. “May the voice of builders and peacemakers find a hearing! The voice of the humble, the poor, the ordinary men and women who want to live, work and pray in peace.”

“May there be an end to acts of violence and extremism, factions and intolerance,” Pope Francis urged. “May room be made for all those citizens who seek to cooperate in building up this country through dialogue and through frank, sincere and constructive discussion — citizens committed to reconciliation and prepared, for the common good, to set aside their own interests.”

Pope Francis acknowledge how Iraqis have dedicated themselves to the difficult task of building a democracy. For further progress toward that goal, he said, “it is essential to ensure the participation of all political, social and religious groups and to guarantee the fundamental rights of all citizens.”

In fact, the country’s dwindling Christian minority is not the only group that repeatedly has been denied its basic rights; Kurds, Yazidis and Mandaeans all have faced discrimination and even persecution. Under Saddam Hussein, even the Shiite Muslim majority was marginalized in many ways.

Even though he was speaking to secular leaders, Pope Francis could not fail to mention the special suffering of the Christian community, advocate for their rights and promise that they, too, would use their talents and skills to build up the nation.

Condemning violence “grounded in a fundamentalism incapable of accepting the peaceful coexistence of different ethnic and religious groups,” the pope urged Iraqis to strive to be a model of dialogue and harmony for the rest of the region.

“Only if we learn to look beyond our differences and see each other as members of the same human family will we be able to begin an effective process of rebuilding and leave to future generations a better, more just and more humane world,” he said.

Religion, he insisted, “must be at the service of peace and fraternity.”

Pope: Honor martyrs by remaining faithful, working for a better Iraq

Pope Francis signed a book with a message for Syriac Catholics at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad March 5. Also pictured, from left: Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, Syriac Catholic Archbishop Ephrem Yousif Mansoor Abba of Baghdad and Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad.
Photo Credit: Vatican Media via Reuters
Visiting a Baghdad cathedral "hallowed by the blood of our brothers and sisters" murdered in a terrorist attack that shook the world, Pope Francis said their sacrifice must motivate faith and a commitment to working for the common good.

The Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Deliverance, sometimes referred to as Our Lady of Salvation, is now a shrine to 48 Christian martyrs who died Oct. 31, 2010, when militants belonging to a group linked to al-Qaida laid siege to the church, detonating explosives and shooting people; 48 Catholics -- including two priests -- died inside and more than 100 people were wounded.

Photos of the dead, including a 3-year-old, hang over the altar.

According to the Vatican, before the terrorist attack and the 2014-2017 war against Islamic State militants, some 5,000 Syriac Catholic families frequented the cathedral; now, it said, no more than 1,000 families belong to all three Syriac Catholic parishes in the capital.

Pope Francis met in the church March 5 with the nation's bishops and a representative group of priests, religious, seminarians and catechists. They came from the Syriac Catholic community, but also Chaldean Catholic, Armenian Catholic and Latin-rite Catholic parishes.

The pope told them that the memory of the 48 -- whose sainthood cause is underway -- and of the countless other Christians killed in the decade since, should "inspire us to renew our own trust in the power of the cross and its saving message of forgiveness, reconciliation and rebirth."

"Christians are called to bear witness to the love of Christ in every time and place," he said. "This is the Gospel that must be proclaimed and embodied in this beloved country as well."

Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan welcomed Pope Francis to the cathedral, telling him the 48 "mixed their blood with that of the Lamb," and showed "their oppressed, killed or uprooted brothers and sisters in Iraq and the Middle East" that the risen Lord continues to walk with his people.

Cardinal Louis Sako of Baghdad, the Chaldean Catholic patriarch, told the pope that the Syriac Catholic cathedral and its martyrs are a poignant and powerful sign of what Christians throughout the country have endured and survived over the past decade.

While the number of Christians in the country has plummeted in the past 20 years, the cardinal said, many have remained and have "preserved the faith, our spiritual serenity and our fraternal solidarity."

"This paternal visit of yours," he told the pope, "gives us the strength to overcome adversity, reassures us that we have not been forgotten and generates in us the confidence and enthusiasm to continue our journey of faith and evangelical witness."

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