[ad_1]
Vatican City:
Pope Francis will make a historic go to to Iraq in March, the Vatican stated Monday, the primary ever by a pontiff and which is able to embody a visit to Mosul.
The 83-year-old has lengthy spoken of his need to go to the Middle Eastern nation, though the Vatican stated the programme would “take into consideration the evolution of the worldwide health emergency”.
Francis would be the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to go to Iraq, the place the variety of Christians has dropped dramatically over the previous 20 years.
“He will visit Baghdad, the plain of Ur… the city of Erbil, as well as Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Nineveh,” spokesman Matteo Bruni stated in a press release, throughout a visit deliberate from March 5 to eight, 2021.
There had been multiple million Christians in Iraq however just some hundred thousand are left following sectarian warfare after the 2003 US-led invasion and the Islamic State group’s sweep via a 3rd of the nation in 2014.
The pope’s go to to Mosul will likely be notably important, on condition that it was a former stronghold of the Islamic State group.
Francis was compelled to cancel all overseas journeys in June after it grew to become clear that coronavirus, which hit Italy in early March, would make journey for the aged pontiff too harmful.
He stated final 12 months that Iraq was on his record for 2020 journeys.
At the time he stated he hoped Iraq might “face the future through the peaceful and shared pursuit of the common good on the part of all elements of society, including the religious, and not fall back into hostilities sparked by the simmering conflicts of the regional powers.”.
“The pope’s visit will come as the realisation of a dream of his predecessor, Pope St. John Paul II,” the Vatican’s information portal stated.
“The Polish pope had planned to travel to Iraq at the end of 1999, but was prevented by Saddam Hussein,” it added.
The Iraqi authorities welcomed information of Francis’ go to, with the overseas ministry saying: “It symbolises a message of peace to Iraq and the whole region.”
President Barham Saleh formally invited the pope to go to Iraq in July 2019, hoping it will assist the nation “heal” after years of strife.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink