Iraq: François realized the dream of John Paul II in Ur des Chaldéens and called to “row together” in the face of extremism and the pandemic

UR DE LOS CALDEOS (Special Envoy) .- On his second day of his historic visit to Iraq, the Pope Francis made John Paul II’s dream come true. After meeting him strictly in private ayatollah Al Sistani, maximum Shia spiritual leader and key figure in Iraq, in the holy city of Najaf – something unprecedented – he boarded a plane for the second time to make a pilgrimage here, Ur of the Chaldeans, the place where we believe it all began. Where Abraham was born, the father of the great monotheistic religions, a fascinating biblical site, which rises in the middle of the desert, near the city of Nasiriya, which is 200 kilometers south of Baghdad.

From there, at an interfaith meeting in an area set up for the occasion next to the ruins of Abraham’s house, he made a a strong call to “row together”, the only way to peace not only in Iraq, a country plagued by wars, terrorism and extremism, but for a humanity devastated today, moreover, by the pandemic of coronavirus.

“The pandemic has made us understand that” no one is saved alone “. Yet the temptation to distance oneself from others always returns. So the” for oneself which can “will quickly translate into” all against all “, and it will be worse than a pandemic, “he warned, citing his latest encyclical, All the brothers.

“In the storms we are going through, isolation will not save us, it will not save us in the race to strengthen armaments and build walls, on the contrary, it will make us more and more distant and irritated. We will not be saved by the idolatry of money, which locks people in themselves and causes abysses of inequalities that sink in humanity. Consumerism, which numbs the mind and paralyzes the heart, will not save us. The path that Heaven indicates to our journey is another, it is the path of peace. This requires, especially in the storm, that we row together in the same direction ” he cried.

Francisco denounced that “it is not worth it that, while we are all suffering from the pandemic crisis, and especially here where the conflicts have caused so much misery, some think avidly of their personal benefit”. “There will be no peace without sharing and welcoming, without justice that ensures equity and promotion for all, starting with the weakest. There will be no peace without people turning to others. There will be no peace as long as the others are them and are not part of us. There will be no peace as long as the covenants are against someone, for alliances against each other only increase divisions. Peace requires neither winners nor losers, but brothers and sisters who, despite the misunderstandings and wounds of the past, move from conflict to unity ”, he claimed. “Let us ask it in prayer for the whole Middle East, I am thinking in particular of neighboring and martyred Syria,” he urged.

At the meeting, which was attended by various Muslim imams, both from the majority Shiite branch and from the Sunni minority, with turbans and robes, but no representative of Judaism, heartbreaking testimonies were heard from representatives of discriminated minorities, in many cases forced to escape. From Iraq. The Pope listened with a pained face and expressed hope.

“It is up to us, humanity today, and above all to us, believers of all religions, to transform the instruments of hatred into instruments of peace,” he declared. “It behooves us to have the courage to lift up our eyes and look at the stars, the stars that our father Abraham saw, the stars of promise. Abraham’s path was a blessing of peace. However, it was not easy, he had to face struggles and unforeseen events, ”he recalled.

Under a constant sun and wind, the Pope’s words – protected by a scene set in the middle of the desert – echoed in a biblical setting. A few meters from the birthplace of Abraham, a historical figure, and the ancient ruins of Ur of the Chaldeans, one of the oldest and most important Sumerian cities. known today as Tell al-Muqayyar, “Hill of Peace”. It had a strategic position, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, near the Persian Gulf, which made it a developed commercial and political center. It dates back to the 4th millennium BC and is famous for the majestic Ziqqurat, a multi-level tower built by Ur-Nammu, founder of the Third Sumerian Dynasty, dedicated to Nannar, god of the Moon, discovered through archaeological missions by the British. Museum and the University of Pennsylvania in 1922.

In the city where, according to tradition, Abraham spoke for the first time with God and is quoted in the Bible (Genesis), for the second consecutive day the Pope also recalled that “God is merciful and that the most blasphemous crime is to desecrate his name hating his brother ”. “Hostility, extremism and violence were not born out of a religious spirit: they were betrayals of religion. And we, the believers. we cannot remain silent when terrorism abuses religion. Moreover, it is up to us to clearly resolve the misunderstandings, ”he stressed, alluding, without mentioning it, to the failed interpretation of the Koran by fundamentalist groups.

Finally, he demanded that freedom of conscience and religious freedom be respected: “these are fundamental rights, because they make man free to contemplate the Heaven for which he was created”.

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