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Iraq
Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr waves outside his home in Iraq's holy city Najaf on February 10, 2021. Photo: Ali Najafi / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday welcomed Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Iraq, set to take place next month.
“Openness toward other religions is a good thing, and his visit to Iraq is welcomed, and our hearts are open to him before our doors,” Sadr said on Twitter.
“Najaf is the capital of religions, so he is welcomed as a peace-lover,” he said.
The papal visit, scheduled for March 5-8, is the first of its kind to Iraq.
In addition to visits to Baghdad and the Plain of Ur, Pope Francis will meet in Najaf with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s Shiite spiritual leader.
According to the official itinerary published by the Vatican on Monday, the pope will hold mass in Erbil following visits to Mosul and the Christian town of Qaraqosh in the Nineveh Plains earlier in the day.
Doubt was thrown on the March trip over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of over 10,000 Iraqis.
Pope Francis has previously expressed his hopes of visiting the country.
"I think constantly of Iraq – where I want to go next year – in the hope that it can face the future through the peaceful and shared pursuit of the common good on the part of all elements of society, including the religious, and not fall back into hostilities sparked by the simmering conflicts of the regional powers," he said in June 2019.
The pope's visit comes at a time when only a few hundred thousand Christians are left in the country. Only 400,000 are estimated to remain in Iraq, William Warda, co-founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization told AFP – down from 1.5 million in 2003.
“Openness toward other religions is a good thing, and his visit to Iraq is welcomed, and our hearts are open to him before our doors,” Sadr said on Twitter.
“Najaf is the capital of religions, so he is welcomed as a peace-lover,” he said.
The papal visit, scheduled for March 5-8, is the first of its kind to Iraq.
In addition to visits to Baghdad and the Plain of Ur, Pope Francis will meet in Najaf with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s Shiite spiritual leader.
According to the official itinerary published by the Vatican on Monday, the pope will hold mass in Erbil following visits to Mosul and the Christian town of Qaraqosh in the Nineveh Plains earlier in the day.
Doubt was thrown on the March trip over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of over 10,000 Iraqis.
Pope Francis has previously expressed his hopes of visiting the country.
"I think constantly of Iraq – where I want to go next year – in the hope that it can face the future through the peaceful and shared pursuit of the common good on the part of all elements of society, including the religious, and not fall back into hostilities sparked by the simmering conflicts of the regional powers," he said in June 2019.
The pope's visit comes at a time when only a few hundred thousand Christians are left in the country. Only 400,000 are estimated to remain in Iraq, William Warda, co-founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization told AFP – down from 1.5 million in 2003.
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