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Friday 5 March 2021 - 21:04

Pope Francis Begins Historic Iraq Visit

Story Code : 919899
Pope Francis Begins Historic Iraq Visit
Covid and security fears have made this his riskiest visit yet, but the 84-year-old insisted he was “duty bound”.

He will try to reassure the dwindling Christian community and foster inter-religious dialogue – meeting Iraq’s most revered Shia Muslim cleric.

The Pope will also celebrate Mass at a stadium in Irbil in the north.

About 10,000 Iraqi Security Forces personnel are being deployed to protect the Pope, while round-the-clock curfews are also being imposed to limit the spread of Covid.

Iraq’s PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi greeted the Pope at the airport. On the plane, Francis said he was happy to be traveling again, adding: “This is an emblematic trip and it is a duty towards a land that has been martyred for so many years.”

He had earlier said Iraqi Christians could not be “let down for a second time”, after Pope John Paul II cancelled plans for a trip in 1999 when talks with then-President Saddam Hussein’s government broke down.
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