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Pope Francis departs Iraq after historic trip: AFP
by AFP Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) March 8, 2021

Iran dailies hail Pope-Sistani meet as chance for peace
Tehran (AFP) March 7, 2021 - The Iraq meeting of Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, one of Shiite Islam's top clerics, was front-page news in Iran Sunday, with some media declaring it a chance for peace in the neighbouring country.

Officials in Iran, a Shiite-majority country like Iraq, have not yet commented on the pontiff's historic visit to Iraq that began on Friday.

Tehran, with its allies within Baghdad's state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force, helped Iraqi troops defeat the Sunni jihadist Islamic State (IS) group at the end of 2017.

Iran's reformist Sazandegi daily said the two religious leaders are now "the standard-bearers of world peace" and called their meetings "the most effective event (in the history of) dialogue between religions".

Another reformist daily, Shargh, said it was "a symbolic spectacle showing the importance of cooperation between followers of different religions".

"Victory for Shiism and Christianity," wrote the government-run Iran daily in a front-page column, saying that the pope's visit showed that "Christianity is alive in Iraq" despite the "suffering" caused by the IS.

Iran's conservative dailies noted that the return of security to Iraq was the result of efforts by "resistance" forces, recalling Sistani's call in 2014 for Iraqis to take up arms against the jihadists.

"Pope Francis and many western countries must be aware that this freedom (to travel to Iraq) owes much to the blood of the courageous youth of the resistance axis and the wisdom of the Shiite authority," said the ultraconservative Resalat.

It added that the meeting could be "a valuable opportunity for peace and to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, especially the Christians affected by the Islamic State's invasion".

Another ultraconservative publication, Kayhan, said that "the security of Iraqi Christians" and Muslims was made possible through the "sacrifice" of "young Iraqis" commanded by Iran's General Qasem Soleimani and Hashed deputy Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.

Pope Francis concluded on Monday the first-ever papal trip to Iraq, which went off without a hitch despite security worries and a second wave of coronavirus cases in the country.

The 84-year-old pontiff covered more than 1,400 kilometres (900 miles) inside the country, bringing encouragement to its diminished Christian community and extending a hand to Shiite Muslims by meeting top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

"In my time among you, I have heard voices of sorrow and loss, but also voices of hope and consolation," Francis said on Sunday, concluding his last public event.

"Now the time draws near for my return to Rome. Yet Iraq will always remain with me, in my heart."

In his packed three full days in Iraq, the Pope made more than a half-dozen speeches in nearly as many cities, repeatedly evoking hope and fraternity.

In Baghdad on Friday, he called for an end to violence and extremism and urged officials to do more to fight corruption.

Francis called the minority Yazidis "innocent victims of senseless and brutal atrocities," following the Islamic State group's rampage against their esoteric community in 2014.

He also met members of Iraq's other minorities in a moving interfaith ceremony at Ur, where the Prophet Abraham is thought to have been born.

On Saturday, he held an extraordinary meeting with the reclusive but highly respected Sistani, who afterwards said Iraq's Christians should have the right to live in "peace."

Francis' full day in Iraq's war-battered north on Sunday embodied a cause close to his heart -- supporting traumatised Christians.

There, he said the "tragic" exodus of Christians "does incalculable harm not just to the individuals and communities concerned, but also to the society they leave behind".

In last Iraq mass, Francis frenzy trumps pandemic fears
Arbil, Iraq (AFP) March 7, 2021 - Amid the excitement to see Pope Francis as he held his last public mass in Iraq on Sunday, the hopes of the faithful outdid the coronavirus precautions of the prudent.

"I don't know why people don't wear masks," said Bayda Saffo, an Iraqi woman attending the Pope's largest mass of his trip to Iraq, gripped by a resurgence of Covid-19.

Authorities in the Kurdistan regional capital of Arbil had feared the open-air liturgy at the Franso Hariri Stadium would become a "super-spreader" event for the virus.

They restricted attendance by issuing a limited number of tickets that meant the stadium was half full, with around 10,000 people attending.

Saffo and her teenage daughter wanted to take extra precautions -- each wore a double-layer of medical masks, a plastic face-shield and gloves.

As excited as they were to see the Pope, it was better to be safe than sorry, Saffo told AFP.

"There is a danger. We have a young cousin who died of Covid," the 54-year-old university professor said, who is originally from the northern city of Mosul, which was visited by the Pope earlier on Sunday.

But few around them were as equally well protected.

While the white chairs on the stadium greens were spaced out to ensure social distancing, those gathered in the stands were packed much closer together.

Few wore masks, and those who did pulled them down to recite prayers along with the 84-year-old pontiff.

"We already had Covid a few months ago!" said a young couple at the stadium.

Francis and his entourage have been vaccinated, but Iraq only began its modest inoculation campaign days ago, with 50,000 jabs distributed to medical staff.

- 'Nearer to God' -

Iraq has documented more than 720,000 infections and more than 13,500 deaths -- making it one of the nations hardest hit by the coronavirus in the Middle East.

Many observers had expected worse in a country, whose health infrastructure has been hit by decades of war and little investment.

Some believed that its overwhelmingly young population -- with 60 percent of its 40 million people aged under 25 -- had perhaps helped keep cases down.

Following a long lockdown last year, the numbers of new cases dropped to around 800 per day in late 2020.

But they skyrocketed this year, with 5,000 daily infections in the days leading up to the papal trip.

To stop the spread, authorities imposed overnight curfews and weekend lockdowns, extended to include the entirety of the Pope's visit, which lasts until Monday.

It's not Iraq's first religious occasion under Covid-19.

In October, around 14.5 million Shiite Muslims gathered in the shrine city of Karbala to mark Arbaeen, which mourns the killing of revered figure Hussein.

During that event, many of the pilgrims were wearing masks, but pulled them down to kiss Hussein's mausoleum.

Yet Iraq did not see a spike in its official case numbers at the time.

At the Arbil mass and an earlier service in Baghdad on Sunday, worshippers were served communion by masked priests, taking the bread in hands smelling of disinfectant.

Watching the Pope from the stadium bleachers, Saffo's 15-year-old daughter Maryam said she was far physically from the pontiff -- but felt close spiritually.

"It's a big dream for us," she said. "He will help us be nearer to God."

Pope celebrates largest mass of historic Iraq trip
Arbil, Iraq (AFP) March 7, 2021 - Pope Francis vowed Sunday to keep Iraq in his heart, as he concluded the largest mass and final public event of a historic trip meant to encourage the country's dwindling Christian community and deepen interfaith dialogue.

The pontiff celebrated among thousands of smiling worshippers in a sports stadium in the Kurdistan region's capital Arbil, after visiting Christian survivors of the Islamic State group's reign of terror.

The 84-year-old was driven in his white, windowless "pope-mobile" into the stadium, where jubilant worshippers sat socially distanced on white chairs spread out on the greens.

Others stood, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of Francis, in the stands ringing the Franso Hariri Stadium, named after an Iraqi Christian politician who was assassinated by extremists 20 years ago.

In concluding the mass, the Pope vowed to keep Iraq in his heart even when he returns to the Vatican on Monday.

"In my time among you, I have heard voices of sorrow and loss, but also voices of hope and consolation," he said.

"Now the time draws near for my return to Rome. Yet Iraq will always remain with me, in my heart."

The faithful wore hats featuring pictures of Francis, and face-masks to protect them from Covid, as a second wave has driven up cases to around 5,000 new infections per day in Iraq.

The stadium seats around 20,000, but large swathes of the stands were empty after authorities had trimmed down the allowed attendance in recent days.

"It's a special trip, also because of the conditions," said Matteo Bruni, the Vatican's spokesman, who described the visit to Iraq as "a gesture of love for this land its people".

Iraq's Christian population has shrunk to fewer than 400,000, from around 1.5 million before the US-led invasion of 2003.

Arbil has been a place of refuge for many Christians who fled violence over the years, including IS jihadists' 2014 onslaught and ensuing reign of terror.

The heaviest security deployment yet is protecting Francis in northern Iraq on what is perhaps the riskiest day of his historic trip.

The city was targeted just weeks ago by a deadly rocket attack, the latest in a series of strikes blamed on pro-Iranian forces.

- 'The most beautiful day' -

The visit to the north came the day after the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics met Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who agreed Iraq's Christians should be able to live in "peace".

It also embodies a cause close to the pope's heart: reaching out to Iraq's traumatised Christian community.

Watching from afar as IS swept across the northern province of Nineveh in 2014, Pope Francis said he was ready to come and meet the displaced and other victims of war in a show of solidarity.

He fulfilled that promise on Sunday, first visiting Mosul, the onetime bastion of the Islamic State group, still largely in ruins.

Standing in front of the partially collapsed walls of the centuries-old Al-Tahera (Immaculate Conception) Church, Francis pleaded for Christians in Iraq and the Middle East to stay in their homelands.

He said the "tragic" exodus of Christians "does incalculable harm not just to the individuals and communities concerned, but also to the society they leave behind".

The Al-Tahera Church, whose roof collapsed during fighting against IS in 2017, is one of the oldest of at least 14 churches in Nineveh province that were destroyed by the jihadists.

The pope was driven in a golf cart around the historic Old City, largely razed during the grinding fight to dislodge the jihadists.

"Today was the most beautiful day for us, being visited by the pope!" said Hala Raad, a Christian woman who had fled when IS seized Mosul but returned to see the pope.

"We hope to come back to Mosul in health and wellbeing. The most important thing is security -- we want stability."

- 'Do not lose hope!' -

Before visiting Arbil on Sunday, the pope held a prayer service in Qaraqosh, whose ancient church -- named Al-Tahera, like the one in Mosul -- was torched by the jihadists as they destroyed most of the town.

Residents of Qaraqosh have since rebuilt their homes with little government help.

Al-Tahera too has been refurbished, its marble floors and internal colonnades buffed to host its most important guest yet.

Dressed in traditional embroidered robes, hundreds of Christians -- who speak a modern dialect of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ -- welcomed the pontiff with hymns and olive branches.

"Do not stop dreaming! Do not give up! Do not lose hope!" Francis urged those gathered.

"Now is the time to rebuild and to start afresh."


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IRAQ WARS
Incense and ululations: Pope meets his Iraqi flock
Baghdad (AFP) March 6, 2021
In the sun-soaked courtyard of Baghdad's St Joseph Cathedral, members of Iraq's dwindling Christian community waited in solemn silence for a man they'd never dreamt they would see. Some of the women, who appeared to outnumber the men, wore dainty black or white veils, a sign of respect for the leader of their faith, 84-year-old Pope Francis. They sat on wooden benches decorated with bright flowers and fingered rosaries or small prayer books as they counted down the minutes for the pontiff to a ... read more

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