2 minutes agoDespite missile attacks and security concerns, Pope launches historic visit to Iraq
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)Pope Francisescu will fly to Iraq on his first papal visit to this country, and on his first international trip since the beginning of the pandemic. The four-day trip will prove to provide security to the community increasingly in reducing Christians and enabling inter-religious dialogue. The pope will [...]
The four-day trip will prove to provide security to the community increasingly in reducing Christians and enabling inter-religious dialogue.
The pope will meet with Iraq's most honoured clerics, meaning a prayer in Mosul and will hold a Mass in a stadium, reports the BBC, translates Periscopi.
He has insisted on travelling despite the new wave of Covid-19 infections in Iraq and concerns about his security.
About 10,000 Iraqi security forces will be deployed to protect the pope, while quarantine has been set up to limit the spread of the coronary.
Hours after the missile attack at the base hosting American soldiers Wednesday, the Pope said Iraqi Christians would not be left in oblivion “for a second time”.
Pope John Paul II had cancelled his plans for a visit to Iraq at the end of 1999 after talks with the country's then president, Saddam Hussein, had collapsed.
In the following two decades, one of the oldest Christian communities had suffered badly in the decline of between 1.4 million and about 250 thousand. /Periscope
