In the most dangerous of his travels, François arrives in an Iraq in crisis

ROMA – Peace, reconciliation, reconstruction, hope. These will be the main themes of the Francisco’s historic trip to Iraq starting today (scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. Argentina time), the first from a pope to a land considered the “cradle of civilizations” and the most dangerous of his pontificate, taking place in a country still shaken by decades of wars, divisions, sectarianism and fundamentalist terrorism.

Francis, who is making this trip in the middle of a pandemic and despite a situation of enormous instability, will realize the dream of Saint John Paul II, who for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, he wanted to make a pilgrimage to Ur of the Chaldeans, Abraham’s birthplace, considered the patriarch of the three great monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

As he assured in a video message that he sent to the population of this predominantly Muslim country, which will have to resign in the great majority to watching it on television due to the total quarantine in force due to the pandemic, Francisco, 84, will arrive as a “Penitent pilgrim”, “pilgrim of peace” and “pilgrim of hope”.

“I’m going as a pilgrim, as a penitent pilgrim, to implore the Lord for forgiveness and reconciliation after years of war and terrorism, to ask God for consolation for hearts and the healing of wounds. And I am going among you as a pilgrim of peace, to repeat: ‘You are all brothers’, “he said, referring to the motto of his trip, the 33rd international of his pontificate and the first after a 15-month hiatus. due to the pandemic.

“Yes, I am going 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 religious traditions, under the sign of Father Abraham, who unites them. Muslims, Jews and Christians in one family, ”he stressed. Surely the Pope, who will meet Ayatollah Al-Sistani, the highest Shiite leader on Saturday in one of the key moments of the tour, will reiterate this idea at an interfaith meeting he will later chair in Ur de los Chaldeos. , the ancient biblical city that rises near Nasiriyah. And during the three days that the visit will last, the first of a Pope in a predominantly Shiite country and a more than intense marathon for someone who suffers sciatica, with more than 1400 kilometers, internal flights and helicopter transfers.

Francisco – who will travel vaccinated against the coronavirus, like the rest of his entourage and the journalists who accompany him – and who for the first time will not use a popemobile, but will travel in a closed and armored car for safety reasons, he will also encourage the decimated Christian minority: 1.5 million in 2003 and, after an exodus through an impossible situation, now about 400,000. “I am honored to meet a martyred Church”, underlined the Pope in the video message, that in addition to visiting tomorrow the Syrian-Catholic cathedral of Baghdad, which was the victim of an atrocious terrorist attack in October 2010 during of which 48 people died on Sunday, he will travel to the northern part of the country devastated by the fundamentalist terrorist group Islamic State (IS). There he will visit Mosul, a symbolic city of extremist horror and former capital of the Caliphate, and pray for the victims of all wars in the nearby ancient Christian city of Qaraqosh, another key moment.

“They still have before their eyes the images of destroyed houses and desecrated churches, and in their hearts the wounds of lost ailments and abandoned houses. I wish to bring you the affectionate caress of the whole Church, which encourages you to move forward, ”declared Francis who, as a roadmap, carries his last encyclical, Fratelli tutti, All Brothers. “Let us not allow the terrible suffering they experienced and which saddens me so much to prevail. We are not giving in to the spread of evil, ”he asked, also referring to the Yazidis, another minority who suffered a veritable genocide by ISIS, as well as the Muslim majority, also victim of violence and destruction. .

“Now I come as a pilgrim of hope to your blessed and wounded land. At home in Nineveh, Jonah’s prophecy rang out, averting destruction and bringing new hope, the hope of God. Let us allow ourselves to be infected by this hope, which encourages us to rebuild and start over. And in these difficult times of pandemic, let us help each other to strengthen brotherhood, to build together a future of peace. Together sisters and brothers of each religious tradition ”, he urged, marking the line of a complex and dangerous journey, which he decided to make against all odds. “From your land, thousands of years ago, Abraham left,” he recalls. “Today, it is up to us to continue it, with the same spirit, walking together the paths of peace. That is why I invoke upon all of you the peace and blessing of the Most High. And I ask you all to do the same thing Abraham did, to walk in hope and never stop looking at the stars. And I ask you all to accompany me with prayer ”, he concluded, thanking in Arabic, saying“ Shukran! “Thank you.

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