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dpa
Baghdad
Despite an increase in coronavirus cases and new movement restrictions, spirits are high in Iraq as Pope Francis is scheduled to touch down in Baghdad on Friday for his first ever apostolic journey to the country.
Months of preparations have seen churches, once blackened by Islamic State attacks, painted and decorated, roads paved and papal flags hoisted.
The 84-year-old pontiff will travel across the country to meet with members of the Christian community as well as political and religious figures, including Iraq’s top Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf city.
“They will see the pope is there in their country,” the pontiff told Catholic News Service last month. “I am the pastor of people who are suffering.” Like many members of the country’s Christian community, Baghdad-born Yahya Wartan Hakeen, 28, is hopeful that the visit will pave the way for a more peaceful Iraq.
“The pope is a man of peace, he is going to bring peace to the country, to the region, he is going to bless us with his prayer,” said Hakeen.
The four-day visit will see the pontiff travel to the Nineveh plains, where thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the Islamic State extremist group in 2014.
Seven years later, many of them have yet to return to their hometowns.
“Some of their houses are completely destroyed,” said Bashar Warda, the archbishop of Erbil, in the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region.
“We are a people of hope ... but to have a dignified way of living is always a big challenge,” said the archbishop.
During the visit, Francis will visit Nineveh’s capital city of Mosul then head to Qaraqosh.
Roughly 30 kilometres to the east of Mosul, the town of Qaraqosh was home to a large Christian community until Islamic State attacks destroyed the place and forced people to flee. For some, however, the visit comes a little too late.
Nawras Sabah William, 28, was among the 60 survivors of the 2010 attack at the Sayidat al-Najat (Our Lady of Salvation) church in Baghdad, where 58 people were killed by al-Qaeda-linked gunmen in one of the worst massacres of Iraqi Christians.
Since then, he has been hoping for a papal visit.
The church will be one of the pope’s stops on his first day in Iraq.
“It is 11 years now after the incident, we appreciate it, but it is a little bit too late,” William told dpa.
Baghdad
Despite an increase in coronavirus cases and new movement restrictions, spirits are high in Iraq as Pope Francis is scheduled to touch down in Baghdad on Friday for his first ever apostolic journey to the country.
Months of preparations have seen churches, once blackened by Islamic State attacks, painted and decorated, roads paved and papal flags hoisted.
The 84-year-old pontiff will travel across the country to meet with members of the Christian community as well as political and religious figures, including Iraq’s top Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf city.
“They will see the pope is there in their country,” the pontiff told Catholic News Service last month. “I am the pastor of people who are suffering.” Like many members of the country’s Christian community, Baghdad-born Yahya Wartan Hakeen, 28, is hopeful that the visit will pave the way for a more peaceful Iraq.
“The pope is a man of peace, he is going to bring peace to the country, to the region, he is going to bless us with his prayer,” said Hakeen.
The four-day visit will see the pontiff travel to the Nineveh plains, where thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the Islamic State extremist group in 2014.
Seven years later, many of them have yet to return to their hometowns.
“Some of their houses are completely destroyed,” said Bashar Warda, the archbishop of Erbil, in the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region.
“We are a people of hope ... but to have a dignified way of living is always a big challenge,” said the archbishop.
During the visit, Francis will visit Nineveh’s capital city of Mosul then head to Qaraqosh.
Roughly 30 kilometres to the east of Mosul, the town of Qaraqosh was home to a large Christian community until Islamic State attacks destroyed the place and forced people to flee. For some, however, the visit comes a little too late.
Nawras Sabah William, 28, was among the 60 survivors of the 2010 attack at the Sayidat al-Najat (Our Lady of Salvation) church in Baghdad, where 58 people were killed by al-Qaeda-linked gunmen in one of the worst massacres of Iraqi Christians.
Since then, he has been hoping for a papal visit.
The church will be one of the pope’s stops on his first day in Iraq.
“It is 11 years now after the incident, we appreciate it, but it is a little bit too late,” William told dpa.
