ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Pope Francis has said he will still visit Iraq despite another rocket attack hitting a military base in Anbar on Wednesday morning.
“The day after tomorrow, God willing, I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage. For a long time I have wanted to meet those people who have suffered so much,” Pope Francis said in his weekly address from the Vatican.
“Together with the other religious leaders, we shall also take another step forward in brotherhood among believers.”
The Pope’s remarks came after ten rockets targeted Ain al-Asad military base housing Iraqi, American and US-led coalition troops in Anbar province the same morning.
“The Iraqi people are waiting for us; they awaited Saint John Paul II, who was not permitted to go,” the Pope added. “One cannot disappoint a people for the second time.”
Pope Francis is set to arrive at Baghdad International Airport on Friday afternoon, according to an itinerary published by the Vatican.
This will be the first papal visit to Iraq.
The pope's visit comes at a time when only a few hundred thousand Christians are left in the country.
Following the US-led invasion of 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee and attacks by ISIS in 2014 further hit all minority communities.
According to data provided to Rudaw English by Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Warda on Wednesday there were more than one million Christians in Iraq before 2003. Less than 300,000 remain today.
Pope Francis is to meet top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani during his planned visit to Najaf on March 6, and hold mass in Erbil’s Franso Hariri Stadium on March 7.
