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(CNN) – Pope Francis has landed in Iraq for a historic tour of the war-torn nation, where he is expected to meet with members of the country’s dwindling Christian community and draw attention to their plight.
The trip, which marks the first papal visit to Iraq, will also include meetings with the country’s top political and religious officials.
On Friday, the pontiff will meet with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Barham Salih. He will later meet clergymen and other officials at two churches in Baghdad, including one that was the site of a bloody massacre in 2010.
Francis was expected to cancel the visit after a surge in coronavirus cases gripped Iraq in recent weeks, and a series of new rocket attacks deepened security fears. But the Pope insisted that the visit continue as scheduled, referring to Iraq’s ancient Christian community as “that martyred Church.”
“For some time I have wanted to meet those people who suffered so much,” Francis said Wednesday. “The people of Iraq are waiting for us. They were waiting for Pope John Paul II, who was not allowed to go,” he added, referring to a planned trip in 2000 that was canceled after a breakdown in talks between the Vatican and the then President Saddam Hussein.
“You can’t let people down a second time. Let us pray that this journey goes well.”
Iraqi officials have hailed the visit as an important moment for the country, while privately admitting that the timing of the trip has proven to be a challenge for the authorities.
Iraq has imposed a total curfew for the entirety of the four-day papal visit in an attempt to minimize health and security risks.
One of the key parts of the Pope’s itinerary is Saturday’s visit to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a highly revered Shiite cleric. Sistani will receive the pontiff at his residence in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
The papal meeting with the 90-year-old Sistani, which is rarely seen in public, can be seen as one of the most important summits between a pope and a prominent Shiite Muslim figure.
Francis has met with prominent Sunni cleric Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb on several occasions, and is famous for co-signing a 2019 document committing himself to “human brotherhood” among the world’s religions.
Some hope that the meeting with Sistani will serve as the Shiite Muslim component of the pontiff’s efforts to strengthen interfaith relations.
‘I hope the Pope stays a month’
The Pope also plans to visit several Iraqi areas and cities linked to the Bible, such as the Plain of Ur, considered the birthplace of Abraham.
He is believed to have long wanted to go to Iraq, which is largely in the Bible and whose dwindling Christian minority has suffered greatly from the country’s long cycles of violence.
Considered one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, before the 2003 US invasion, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. About 80% of them have since fled, according to top Christian clergy there.
Members of the Christian minority, which have been the target of repeated attacks by extremists, say they hope the Pope’s visit will highlight the negligence they feel they have suffered from the Iraqi authorities.
Many members of the country’s Muslim majority, who complain loudly about government corruption and mismanagement, also have their hopes pinned on the trip.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis held months-long street demonstrations, some of which were violently suppressed, in the months before the coronavirus pandemic began to spread here.
“The country needs services, security and peace,” said Mohammed Jassem, 50. “[The Pope] You cannot give us these things but we ask you to call the management and the parties for these things. “
“We call him to unify his ethnic group … the country requires unity and we hope he can bring us this,” he added.
The Iraqi authorities have been busy preparing for the papal visit, cleaning streets and paving others where the Vatican delegation is scheduled to go. New streetlights illuminate the roads and many broken traffic lights are back in operation.
The irony is not lost on Iraqis. “The streets of Baghdad have improved a lot in a week,” said Ahmad al-Assadi, a 41-year-old businessman. “I wish he would stay a month and go all over Iraq … maybe then they can fix the whole country.”
This story was first published on CNN.com, “Pope Francis lands in Baghdad, hoping to boost an ancient Christian church and a country ravaged by war.”
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