[ad_1]
“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the bombings in Tajaran Square in Baghdad this morning,” the Vatican said in a statement sent to Iraqi President Barham Saleh on behalf of the pontiff.
“Condemning this senseless act of cruelty, you are praying for the victims and their families, for the injured and for the rescuers involved,” the letter read.
The 84-year-old pope is planning a historic visit to Iraq on March 5-8. He intends to visit Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, a former stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist movement.
He would become the first pope to visit this Middle Eastern state. The interfaith violence that has erupted in the past two decades has distracted Iraq’s historic and diverse Christian communities.
The Vatican began accrediting media workers to cover the trip this week, but Francis himself warned that the visit could be canceled due to a coronavirus pandemic.
[ad_2]
