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The visit is the first of its kind for a religious official the size of the Vatican Pope in history, and it also takes place under conditions of “insecurity, political instability and sectarianism, as well as corruption and economic crisis,” which has worsened with the “Covid-19” epidemic, according to an article published on the Vatican site, Tuesday.
Iraqi authorities in Baghdad and the Kurdistan region made preparations to receive the Pope, whose plane is scheduled to land in Baghdad next Friday, and will visit Najaf, Mosul, Dhi Qar and Erbil, amid great local and international interest in this. visit.
Iraqi authorities said that some 1,000 international journalists have applied for permits to visit Iraq and cover the pope’s visit, according to Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nazim.
“There are 1000 requests from Arab and foreign journalists to cover the Pope’s visit, and the issues will be accurately calculated on how media coverage and adherence to health and safety decisions, as there is great importance for coverage of the media, “said the minister during his participation in the program” Al-Asheer “of the official Iraqi channel.
He added: “The importance of the visit is what will follow and what will happen after the Pope’s departure. The first thing is community harmony, the preservation of cultural and ethnic diversity, as well as the possibility of benefiting from the visit in a significant economic moment level. “
At Dhi Qar, the historic ziggurat of Ur was lit for the first time in more than 4,000 years, according to an official with the Provincial Antiquities Authority, who told Al-Hurra that local authorities wanted to celebrate the arrival of the Pope with this symbolic initiative. .
The Pope will visit the ziggurat that he religiously believes is near or contains the home of the prophet Abraham, the founder of the three Abrahamic religions.
Iraqi political movements tried to take advantage of the arrival of the Pope to push for a law criminalizing religious hatred of legislation in the Iraqi parliament, but it seems that this attempt has not been successful so far.
The Vatican presented a historical overview of the Christian presence in Iraq, highlighting in the article written by Lisa Zingarini that “Iraq, from a religious and historical point of view, was an important land for all Christians who played an important role in its history. . “
The article published on the Vatican website states that “the Iraqi Christian community, which today consists of Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians, Latinos, Melkites, Orthodox and Protestants, has suffered persecution and discrimination since the arrival of Islam.”
The Vatican article addressed the mass migration of Christians after 2003, the crimes committed by ISIS against them, and the efforts made to return them to their areas.
While some militias were not enthusiastic about the news of the Pope’s visit to Baghdad, the Vatican said that “insecurity and continued harassment, intimidation and harassment by local“ militias ”and hostile groups continue to threaten the community. Iraqi Christian.
The article added that to “secure the future of Christians in a unified Iraq free of jihadists, they need above all to recognize full citizenship, and this is why Christian churches have long insisted on a secular constitution and a more active role. ” in Iraqi political and social life. “
“The constitutional charter approved in 2005 formally guarantees respect for religious freedom,” he added.
The article praised “the support of the (Iraqi) prime minister and the expression of his desire to stop the migration of Christians and involve them in the reconstruction of the country, highlighting that they represent an important element in Iraqi society.”
They indicated that these words were “accompanied by actions” such as “the latest gesture in which the Iraqi parliament was announced to recognize Christmas as an official holiday throughout the country,” and “recently, even the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, head of of the Sadrist movement, has shown its willingness to dialogue with the Iraqi Christian community, by “returning the property that was stolen” in recent years to its rightful owners.
