Pope Francis meets with with bishops, priests, seminarians and catechists at the Syro-Catholic Cathedral of ‘Our Lady of Salvation’ in Baghdad March 5, 2021. — Picture by Vatican Media/Handout via ReutersBAGHDAD, March 5 — Pope Francis, beginning the first trip by a pontiff to Iraq, made an impassioned call today for an end to the militant violence and religious strife that has plagued the country for decades, saying peacemakers should finally be given a chance.
Hundreds of people gathered in small clusters to see him being driven into Baghdad in bulletproof BMW, a departure for a pope who normally insists on using small, normal cars. As Francis and the president walked together, the 84-year-old pope limped noticeably, indicating that his sciatica may have flared up again. The condition forced him to cancel several events earlier this year.
He later paid tribute to people killed in attacks motivated by religion, visiting a Baghdad church where Islamist gunmen killed about 50 worshippers in 2010. Their deaths were a reminder that “violence or the shedding of blood are incompatible with authentic religious teachings”, he said. Francis told reporters on the plane he was “happy to be making trips again” after 16 months of being unable to make foreign trips because of the coronavirus.
He will say Mass at a Baghdad church, meet Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric in the southern city of Najaf and travel north to Mosul, where the army had to empty the streets for security reasons last year for a visit by Iraq’s prime minister.
Peace is unprofitable...
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