Waiting for a miracle in Iraq
February 26, 2021 Share
Only two days after an extremist attack that saw 14 missiles rain down on Erbil, and in the midst of a new coronavirus surge and lockdown, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Najeeb Michaeel, was optimistic about the upcoming visit of Pope Francis.
“Everyone is very happy about this historic event,” he said of Iraq’s inaugural papal visit, from his home in Ankawa, Erbil’s Christian enclave, which has given refuge to thousands of those displaced by ISIS. A previously planned visit in 2000 by Pope John Paul II to Ur, birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic patriarch who has become a symbol of inter-faith harmony, was foiled by protracted negotiations with the government of Saddam Hussein. In 2020, Pope Francis had to cancel a trip due to security and pandemic concerns.
VATICAN: The meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani “will be one of the highlights” of the Pope s visit to Iraq, scheduled from March 5 to 8 according to the official schedule released by the Vatican.
Both are “great men of peace,” said Mgr Shlemon Warduni, Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, speaking about the upcoming papal visit, which was confirmed despite the latest episodes of violence in the country.
The Chaldean Patriarch, Card Louis Sako, has strongly supported the visit, hoping that it might be a “key moment in the life of Iraq”.
“During a personal meeting with al-Sistani, he explained to me how he behaves with politicians,” explained Bishop Warduni, who is the patriarch’s righthand man. “I don’t go to them, he said; they come to me and I tell them what there is to know, to build peace and fraternity. Several times he repeated: I am not a politician; I am a man of faith who wants peace for the whole country.”
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