Pope meets Shiite Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf: “Christians in Iraq must live in peace”

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest religious authority of the majority of Shia Muslims, received Pope Francis, the leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, this Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, an unprecedented meeting, the AFP.

Grand Ayatollah told Pope Francis on Saturday that Christians in Iraq must “live in peace and security” and enjoy “all constitutional rights”.

With this private tour, the sovereign pontiff of Argentina reaches out to Shia Islam after signing, two years ago, a document on “human brotherhood” with a major institution of Sunni Islam.

After meeting with Catholic clergy upon his arrival in Baghdad on Friday, the 84-year-old Pope reaches out to Shia Islam by visiting the 90-year-old dignitary. – who does not usually appear in public – in his modest house in Najaf, 200 km south of Baghdad.

Neither the press nor other guests attended the closed-door meeting scheduled for 06:00 GMT, but this step in the papal agenda is already a source of pride for many Shiites in a country that has experienced 40 years of conflict and unrest. crises and a bloody civil war. between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

– “Another dimension” –

“We are proud of what this visit represents (…) it will give another dimension to the holy city”he said to AFP The Shiite cleric Mohamed Ali Bahr al-Ouloum.

When getting off the plane, the Supreme Pontiff will be able to read the huge poster with a call for dialogue placed at the airport on the occasion of his visit.

“Men are of two types: their brothers in the faith or their equals in humanity”, says the poster, which quotes Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and founder of Shiism, who is buried in the holy city.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is the highest authority for most of the 200 million Shiites in the world – a minority among the 1.8 billion Muslims. Its only religious rival is Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Of Iranian nationality, Sistani has been the guarantor of Iraq’s independence for decades and runs a theological school that advocates the withdrawal of religious from politics – they must limit themselves to advising – unlike the Qom school in Iran.

“The theological school of Najaf is more secular than that of Qom, which is more religious”recalls Spanish Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Najaf, he says, “gives more weight to the social aspect”.

– “Foreign interests” –

Grand Ayatollah has indeed had an influence to bring down the government that young protesters denounced for months in 2019, fed up with seeing their country sink into corruption and mismanagement.

The Pope, like the Grand Ayatollah, are two religious figures who often make political comments. But the two wisely weigh their words.

Once again, the Pope has littered his speech to the Iraqi authorities with allusions to the situation in the country, caught between its two great allies: the United States and Iran.

“That partisan interests cease, those foreign interests which are disinterested in the local population”, Francisco implored.

The Pope’s visit – under strong security measures – takes place amid total containment of the population after the increase in covid-19 cases which already stands at more than 5,000 per day.

The Pope was vaccinated before the trip, but it is not known whether the Grand Ayatollah’s office did the same.

After Najaf, Francis plans to visit the city of Ur in the south, where, according to tradition, Patriarch Abraham was born.

There he will pray with Shiite, Sunni, Yazidi and Sabaean dignitaries.

(With information from EFE)

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