For Iraqi Christians, Pope Francis' visit was a rare moment of hope

BAGHDAD – The death of Pope Francis has sent shockwaves done Iraq’s Christian community, wherever his beingness erstwhile brought hope aft 1 of the darkest chapters successful the country’s caller history.

His 2021 visit to Iraq, the archetypal ever by a pope, came aft years of struggle and displacement. Just a fewer years earlier that, galore Iraqi Christians had fled their homes arsenic Islamic State militants swept crossed the country.

Christian communities successful Iraq, erstwhile numbering implicit a million, had already been reduced to a fraction of their erstwhile fig by decades of struggle and wide emigration.

In Mosul, the tract of immoderate of the fiercest battles betwixt Iraqi information forces and the Islamic State, Chaldean Archbishop Najeeb Moussa Michaeel recalled the pope’s sojourn to the battle-scarred metropolis astatine a clip erstwhile galore visitors were inactive acrophobic to travel arsenic a infinitesimal of joy, “like a wedding for the radical of Mosul."

“He broke this obstruction and stood steadfast successful the devastated metropolis of Mosul, proclaiming a connection of love, brotherhood, and peaceful coexistence,” Michaeel said.

As Francis delivered a code successful the city’s al-Midan area, which had been astir wholly reduced to rubble, the archbishop said, helium saw tears falling from the pope’s eyes.

Sa’dullah Rassam, who was among the Christians who fled from Mosul successful 2014 successful the look of the IS offensive, was besides crying arsenic helium watched the pope permission the religion successful Midan that day.

Rassam had spent years displaced successful Irbil, the spot of bluish Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, but was among the archetypal Christians to instrumentality to Mosul, wherever helium lives successful a tiny location adjacent to the religion that Francis had visited.

As the pope's convoy was leaving the church, Rassam stood extracurricular watching, tears streaming down his face. Suddenly the car stopped, and Francis got retired to greet him.

“It was the champion time of my life,” Rassam said. The pope's sojourn “made america consciousness loved and heard, and it helped heal our wounds aft everything that happened here," helium said.

The sojourn besides helped to spur a thrust to rebuild the city’s destroyed sites, including some Muslim and Christian places of worship.

“After the wide planetary media sum of his visit, galore parties began to put again successful the city. Today, Mosul is opening to emergence again,” Michaeel said. “You tin spot our practice reappear successful the sculptures, the churches and the streets.”

Building ties crossed communities

Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako told The Associated Press that Francis had built beardown relationships with the Eastern rite churches — which are often forgotten by their Latin rite counterparts — and with Muslim communities.

The patriarch recalled urging Francis aboriginal successful his papacy to item the value of Muslim-Christian coexistence.

After the pope’s inaugural speech, successful which helium thanked representatives of the Jewish assemblage for their presence, Sako said, “I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you notation Muslims?’... He said, ‘Tomorrow I volition talk astir Muslims,’ and so helium did contented a connection the adjacent day."

Francis went connected to instrumentality “concrete steps to fortify relationships” betwixt Christians and Muslims done visits to Muslim-majority countries — including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan arsenic good arsenic Iraq — Sako said. “He brought Muslims and Christians unneurotic astir shared values.”

His three-day sojourn to Iraq “changed Iraq’s look — it opened Iraq to the extracurricular world,” Sako said, portion “the radical loved him for his simplicity and sincerity.”

The patriarch said that 3 months earlier the pope’s death, helium had fixed him a acquisition of dates from Iraq, and Francis responded that helium “would ne'er hide Iraq and that it was successful his bosom and successful his prayers.”

During his sojourn to Iraq, Francis held a historical gathering with the country's apical Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, astatine the latter’s location successful Najaf.

Sistani’s bureau successful a connection Monday expressed “deep sorrow” astatine the pope’s death, saying helium was “greatly respected by each for his distinguished relation successful serving the causes of bid and tolerance, and for expressing solidarity with the oppressed and persecuted crossed the globe.”

The gathering betwixt the 2 spiritual leaders had helped to “promote a civilization of peaceful coexistence, cull unit and hatred, and uphold values of harmony based connected safeguarding rights and communal respect among followers of antithetic religions and intelligence traditions,” it said.

“Our favourite pope”

In Irbil, Marvel Rassam recalled joining the crowds who packed into a stadium to drawback a glimpse of the pope.

The sojourn brought a consciousness of unity, Rassam said, “as everyone attended to spot him, and not lone the Catholics.”

“He was our favourite pope, not lone due to the fact that helium was the archetypal to sojourn Iraq, but helium was besides precise peculiar and unsocial for his humility and inclusivity,” helium said.

At St. Joseph Chaldean Cathedral successful Baghdad, wherever Francis led a Mass during his 2021 visit, religion pastor Nadhir Dako said the pope's sojourn had carried peculiar value due to the fact that it came astatine a clip erstwhile Christians successful Iraq were inactive processing the trauma of the IS attacks.

“We, the Christians, were successful precise hard situation. There was vexation owed to the forcible migration and the sidesplitting that occurred," Dako said. "The sojourn by the pope created a benignant of determination for each Iraqis to enactment their Christian brothers.”

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Martany reported from Irbil, Iraq.

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