In Historic First, Pope Francis to Visit Iraq

The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP
The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP
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In Historic First, Pope Francis to Visit Iraq

The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP
The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP

Pope Francis is to arrive Friday for the first-ever papal visit to conflict-torn Iraq, aiming to encourage the dwindling Christian community to remain in their ancient homeland and broaden his outreach to Islam.

Among the most extraordinary moments of the trip will be his one-on-one meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Despite a second deadly wave of coronavirus infections, renewed violence, and notoriously poor public services, Francis is fulfilling the dream of a predecessor, late pope John Paul II, by visiting Iraq.

Amid war and persecution, the country's Christian community -- one of the world's oldest -- has fallen from 1.5 million in 2003 to just 400,000 today.

The 84-year-old pontiff, who will be on his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic, plans to voice solidarity with them and the rest of Iraq's 40 million people during a packed three-day visit.

From central Baghdad to the city of Najaf, welcome banners featuring his image and Arabic title "Baba al-Vatican" already dot the streets.

From Ur to ravaged Christian towns in the north, roads are being paved and churches rehabilitated in remote areas that have never seen such a high-profile visitor.

"The pope's message is that the Church stands beside those who suffer," said Najeeb Michaeel, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of the northen city of Mosul.

"He will have powerful words for Iraq, where crimes against humanity have been committed."

- Ancient roots -

Iraq's Christian community is one of the oldest and most diverse in the world, with Chaldeans and other Catholics making up around half, along with Armenian Orthodox, Protestants, and others.

By 2003, when the US-led invasion toppled then-dictator Saddam Hussein, Christians made up around six percent of Iraq's 25 million people.

But even as sectarian violence pushed members of the minority to flee, the national population surged, further diluting Christians to just one percent, according to William Warda, co-founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organisation.

Most were concentrated in the northern province of Nineveh, where many still speak a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.

In 2014, militants from the so-called ISIS group seized control of Nineveh, rampaging through Christian towns and telling residents: convert or die.

At the time, Pope Francis endorsed military action against ISIS and considered visiting northern Iraq in solidarity with Christians there.

That trip never materialized, but Francis has kept a close eye on Iraq, condemning the killing of unarmed protesters during mass anti-government rallies from 2019.

- A long time coming -

Pope John Paul II had planned to visit Iraq in 2000 but Saddam Hussein abruptly canceled the trip. His successor Benedict XVI never made moves towards Baghdad.

Soon after Francis was elected pope in 2013, he was urged to visit Iraq by Father Louis Sako -- later appointed as Cardinal and the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and now a key organizer of the visit.

In 2019, President Barham Saleh extended an official invitation, hoping to help Iraq "heal" after years of violence.

But as the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged Italy, the pope canceled all foreign trips from June 2020.

He lands on Friday in Baghdad with a security team and accompanied by an entourage of 150 people, half of whom are journalists, who like the pope have already been vaccinated.

Just days ahead of the trip, the Vatican's ambassador to Iraq Mitja Leskovar tested positive for Covid-19, but officials insisted it would have "no impact" on the visit.

Despite the Covid situation, he will host masses in Baghdad, the Kurdish regional capital Arbil and Ur.

Swamped by some 4,000 new coronavirus cases per day, Iraq has imposed overnight curfews and full weekend lockdowns that will be extended to cover the entire visit.

Social distancing will be enforced at all church services and those hoping to attend had to register several weeks in advance.

Pope Francis is an outspoken proponent of interfaith efforts and has visited several Muslim-majority countries including Bangladesh, Turkey, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates.

In Abu Dhabi in 2019, he met Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo. They signed a document encouraging Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Francis hopes this week's trip could open a similar door to Shiite Muslims, who number roughly 200 million worldwide but are the majority in Iraq.



Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israel Seizes Rafah in New Gaza 'Security Zone'

A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
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Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israel Seizes Rafah in New Gaza 'Security Zone'

A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Hundreds of thousands of fleeing Gazans sought shelter on Thursday in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war, as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced "security zone" they intend to seize.

A day after declaring their intention to capture large swathes of the crowded enclave, Israeli force pushed into the city on Gaza's southern edge which had served as a last refuge for people fleeing other areas for much of the war, reported Reuters.

Gaza's health ministry reported at least 97 people killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, including at least 20 killed in an airstrike around dawn in Shejaia suburb of Gaza City.

Rafah "is gone, it is being wiped out," a father of seven among the hundreds of thousands who had fled from Rafah to neighboring Khan Younis, told Reuters via a chat app.

"They are knocking down what is left standing of houses and property," said the man who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions.

After a strike killed several people in Khan Younis, Adel Abu Fakher was checking the damage to his tent.

"Is anything left for us? There’s nothing left for us. We’re being killed while asleep," he said.

The assault to capture Rafah is a major escalation in the war, which Israel restarted last month after effectively abandoning a ceasefire in place since January.

GAZANS FEAR PERMANENT DEPOPULATION

Israel has not spelled out its longterm aims for the security zone its troops are now seizing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu said troops were taking an area he called the "Morag Axis", a reference to an abandoned former Israeli settlement once located between Rafah on Gaza's southern edge and the adjacent main southern city Khan Younis.

Gazans who had returned to homes in the ruins during the ceasefire have now been ordered to flee communities on the northern and southern edges of the strip.

They fear that Israel's intention is to depopulate those areas indefinitely, leaving many hundreds of thousands of people permanently homeless in one of the poorest and most crowded territories on earth. The security zone includes some of Gaza's last agricultural land and critical water infrastructure.

Since the first phase of the ceasefire expired at the start of March with no agreement to prolong it, Israel has imposed a total blockade on all goods reaching Gaza's 2.3 million residents, recreating what international organizations describe as a humanitarian catastrophe after weeks of relative calm.

Israel's stated goal since the start of the war has been the destruction of the Hamas group which ran Gaza for nearly two decades and led the attack on Israeli communities in October 2023 that precipitated the war.

But with no effort made to establish an alternative administration, Hamas-led police returned to the streets during the ceasefire. Fighters still hold 59 dead and living hostages which Israel says must be handed over to extend the truce; Hamas says it will free them only under a deal that ends the war.

Israeli leaders say they have been encouraged by signs of protest in Gaza against Hamas, with hundreds of people demonstrating in north Gaza's Beit Lahiya on Wednesday opposing the war and demanding Hamas quit power. Hamas calls the protesters collaborators and says Israel is behind them.

The war began with a Hamas attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023 with gunmen killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Israel's campaign has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say.

Rafah residents said most of the local population had followed Israel's order to leave, as Israeli strikes toppled buildings there. But a strike on the main road between Khan Younis and Rafah stopped most movement between the two cities.

Movement of people and traffic along the western coastal road near Morag was also limited by bombardment, said residents.

"Others stayed because they don't know where to go, or got fed up of being displaced several times. We are afraid they might be killed or at best detained," said Basem, a resident of Rafah who declined to give a second name.

Markets have emptied and prices for basic necessities have soared under Israel's total blockade of food, medicine and fuel.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank but has nominal authority over hospitals in Gaza, said Gaza's entire healthcare system was at risk of collapse.