ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - President Masoud Barzani on Wednesday visited the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV.
"At the invitation of His Holiness the Pope, today President Barzani will be in the Vatican and will meet with Pope Francis, the Pope of Vatican," Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Transport and Communications Minister Ano Abdoka told Rudaw, adding that he will later meet with Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of Vatican City.
Abdoka, a Chaldean Christian, is accompanying President Barzani, who is the leader of the Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Rudaw has learned that in addition to these two meetings, President Barzani will also meet with Antonio Tajani, Italy's foreign minister.
This is the second time President Barzani has visited the Vatican. Previously, in 2014, he visited the Vatican and met with Pope Francis.
Iraq’s Christian community has been devastated in the past two decades. Following the US-led invasion in 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee, and attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard.
Fewer than 300,000 Christians remain in Iraq today, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Erbil's Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda in 2022.
"At the invitation of His Holiness the Pope, today President Barzani will be in the Vatican and will meet with Pope Francis, the Pope of Vatican," Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Transport and Communications Minister Ano Abdoka told Rudaw, adding that he will later meet with Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of Vatican City.
Abdoka, a Chaldean Christian, is accompanying President Barzani, who is the leader of the Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Rudaw has learned that in addition to these two meetings, President Barzani will also meet with Antonio Tajani, Italy's foreign minister.
This is the second time President Barzani has visited the Vatican. Previously, in 2014, he visited the Vatican and met with Pope Francis.
Iraq’s Christian community has been devastated in the past two decades. Following the US-led invasion in 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee, and attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard.
Fewer than 300,000 Christians remain in Iraq today, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Erbil's Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda in 2022.
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