Pope Francis celebrated a public mass for the first time on Iraqi soil at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Baghdad. This happened on Saturday in the presence of a limited number of believers and authorities, due to the corona virus.
The historic event took place surrounded by tough security measures.
The mass concluded the second day of his four-day visit to Iraq. Earlier in the day, he visited the Shia spiritual leader in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, in Najaf. The 84-year-old Pope and his host met in the Shia pilgrimage site, where Ayatollah lives six years his senior.
The spiritual leader told Pope Francis that Christians in his country should be able to “live in peace and security, with full fundamental rights like all Iraqis.” Iraq is home to an estimated 450,000 Christians out of a population of 38 million people.
Church father visited Abraham’s birthplace
The Pope then paid a visit to Ur, the birthplace of Abraham, who plays a central role in the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faith. “This is where it all started,” he said in the birthplace of Abraham, considered the patriarch of various religions. The Pope spoke there with representatives of the faiths in Iraq.
Francis called for unity and dialogue between the religions. “Hostility, extremism and violence are not born in a religious heart: they are the betrayal of the religion,” said the Pope. “We believers cannot remain silent when terrorism is abused by religion. We are unequivocally called upon to clear up all misunderstandings.”
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