"Pope Francis, accepting the invitation of the Republic of Iraq and of the local Catholic Church, will make an Apostolic Journey to the aforementioned Country on 5-8 March 2021,” Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni announced in a statement on Monday. The pontiff will visit Erbil, Baghdad, Mosul, the plain of Ur and Qaraqosh.
"This historic visit to Mesopotamia, the land of the apostles and saints, and the homeland of our master Abraham (PBUH), the father of the prophets, will be an eloquent message to support Iraqis of all stripes, and affirm the unity of humanity in aspiring to peace, tolerance and confronting extremism," Iraqi president Barham Salih said in a tweet.
Pope Francis has expressed his hopes of visiting Iraq in the past.
“I think constantly of Iraq – where I want to go next year – in the hope that it can 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,” he said in a statement in June 2019.
This will be the first visit of a Catholic pontiff to the country, after Pope St. John Paul II failed to visit the country in 1999.
“The program of the Journey will be made known in due course, and will take into consideration the evolution of the worldwide health emergency,” the Holy See statement concluded.
The pope’s visit comes at a time when only a few hundred thousand Christians are left in the country.
According to William Warda, co-founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organisation, Christians left in Iraq number up to 400,000, down from 1.5 million in 2003, reports AFP.
Several waves of violence since the US-led invasion have led many from the religious minority to flee the country. Others have moved for economic reasons.
