Pope Francis has arrived in Iraq | He’s the first boss …

The The Pope arrived in Baghdad this Friday during a pontiff’s first visit to Iraq, where he will address the country’s Christian community, which has been brutally persecuted by jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group after occupying part of the territory for three years. “I go as a pilgrim of peace in search of fraternity, animated by the desire to pray together and to walk together, even with the brothers and sisters of other religious traditions”, François declared a few days ago.

As planned, the Alitalia flight landed at Baghdad airport around 2:00 p.m. local time (11:00 GMT) to start a visit which will last three days.

The Pope was greeted at the foot of the steps of the plane by Prime Minister Mustafa al Kazemi, with whom he shook hands and two children in traditional costumes offered him flowers. In discreet welcome ceremony, as usual, delegations from both states appeared and the hymns rang.

In the Vatican delegation accompanying the Pope are the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin; also the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Argentinian cardinal Leonardo Sandri; and Spanish Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso, head of the Pontifical Council for Religious Dialogue, among others.

The first official act of the Pope will be the meeting with the country’s president, the Kurdish Barham Saleh, and the speech he will deliver at the presidential palace to the authorities and members of the diplomatic corps.

In just three days, the pontiff will go to the south of Iraq, to ​​Ur of the Chaldeans, and to the north, to the Nineveh Plain and the cities of Mosul and Qaraqosh, destroyed by IS and where the Christian population was concentrated, halved, in addition to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, which housed those fleeing the jihadists.

During all the visits that the Pope will undertake on this three-day trip use a closed vehicle for safety reasons and avoid the crowds that pass by curiosity to want to see it, a measure taken especially by the pandemic.

Pope Francis visited Iraq to pay homage to the nearly 300,000 Christians who remain in the country, against around 1,500,000 in 2003, moment when sectarian violence was exacerbated.