This is the end of fifteen months of confinement, during which he had the feeling of being ” in cage “. Pope Francis, who had not traveled abroad since his return from Japan in November 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, must visit Iraq from Friday March 5 to Monday March 8 to strengthen communities very weakened Christians and continue their dialogue with the Muslim world, this time on the Shiite side. It is the first time that a head of the Catholic Church will set foot on the land where the Bible locates the birth of Abraham, patriarch whose Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions are claimed. John Paul II had tried, in vain, to go there in 2000.
His indirect Argentinian successor has put all his stubbornness to achieve this. He grabbed for that “The first possible moment” for this trip which was ” urgent “, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Tuesday March 2. But the organizers had to take into account a complicated security situation.
A double attack, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) organization, killed 32 people in a Baghdad market on January 21, the deadliest attack in three years. Rocket fire has also targeted American interests in recent weeks, as on Wednesday, at the Ain Al-Assad air base in the west of the country, killing an American civilian subcontractor. The Holy See also had to wait for a lull in the government crisis that followed the blood-suppressed protests (nearly 600 dead) in the fall-winter 2019-2020. François will meet the prime minister, invested nine months ago, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and President Barham Saleh, as early parliamentary elections are announced for October.
The Pope must travel in a covered – and possibly armored – car, in order to reduce the risk of crowds
There remains the risk linked to the health situation: the Pope and his retinue have been vaccinated, but not the Iraqis. How to prevent its arrival and the gatherings that usually accompany it from becoming hotbeds of spread of the virus? The situation has deteriorated in Iraq in recent weeks, with around 4,000 infections per day. We learned on Sunday that the apostolic nuncio (the ambassador) himself, Mitja Leskovar, an essential cog in the preparations and with whom the pontiff is to lodge, had just tested positive.
Iraqi authorities have announced total containment for the duration of the papal visit. There will be no walkabout. The Pope must travel in a covered – and perhaps armored – car, in order to reduce the risk of crowds. Churches and other gathering places will be subject to a strict gauge. But gatherings must take place, at least Sunday, at mass in a stadium in Erbil with a capacity of 28,000 people and for which 10,000 invitations have been distributed, as well as around the airports used.
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