“Enough violence, extremism, factions, intolerances”. For the first time in history a Pope arrives in Iraq. It happens today, in 2021, with Pope francesco that on March 5 he inaugurated his journey (the first undertaken by the pontiff since the outbreak of the pandemic) in the country tormented by wars. A long-awaited yet delicate journey.
“When I leave Rome to go to Iraq, a pilgrim of peace and fraternity among peoples,” wrote Pope Francis a telegram sent to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. “I am pleased to address to you, Mr. President, my respectful greeting, which I accompany with fervent wishes of serenity and prosperity for the dear Italian people”.
«Shut up the weapons! Limit its diffusion, here and everywhere! “, the pontiff reiterated, after landing in Baghdad and the welcome in the presidential palace received by the President of the Republic Barham Salih, in the same walls once lived in by Saddam Hussein.
Pope Francis will travel across the country (Baghdad, Najaf, Ur of the Chaldeans, Mosul, Erbil and Quaraqosh) for four days, until March 8, the date on which he will return to Rome. Among the most significant stages: Mosul. In particular, the pontiff will visit the plain of Nineveh, where the oldest Christian community in the world has its roots, forced to flee after the advent of the Islamic State in 2014.
“Iraq has suffered from the disasters of wars, the scourge of terrorism and sectarian conflicts often based on a fundamentalism that cannot accept the peaceful coexistence of various ethnic and religious groups, of different ideas and cultures,” said the Pope in his first heartfelt speech. “All this has brought death, destruction, rubble still visible, and not only on a material level: the damage is even more profound if we think of the wounds in the hearts of so many people and communities, which will take years to heal. Cease the interests of part, those external interests that are not interested in the local population. Give a voice to the builders, to the artisans of peace! To the little ones, the poor, the simple people who want to live, work, pray in peace. Enough violence, extremism, factions, intolerances! ».
The Sunday homily of Pope Francis will be delivered in the church of the Immaculate Conception of Blackberry, the largest in Iraq, reduced to rubble by the Islamic State. It was in the midst of those rubble that the first mass was celebrated after the defeat of Daesh and the images went around the world.
Pope Francis’ trip will end in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and a city that symbolizes the resistance of the population. During the celebration, Pope Francis will bless a statue of the Virgin Mary vandalized by the militiamen of the Islamic State.
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