World leaders send condolences after Pope's death
The death of Pope Francis means the passing of a steadfast friend to Iraq’s Christian community. For them, his historic visit to the country was a message that they were not alone.
On Tuesday, the news was at the forefront of the minds of parishioners gathering for morning mass at Mar Youssef Cathedral in Ankawa, a Christian-majority suburb of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region. “He was a very good pope. We pray for him. He is in heaven,” Faiza Marcus, who was wearing a sombre black mantilla on her head, told The National.
Pope Francis died on Monday at the age of 88 after a 12-year papacy. He was admitted to hospital with double pneumonia in February, but continued to work as he recovered. The day before his death, he briefly appeared at Easter services at St Peter’s Basilica and greeted the crowd from his popemobile.
A major part of his legacy is his three-day visit to Iraq in March 2021, when he became the first leader of the Catholic Church to visit the country. Iraq’s Christians have a particular bond with Pope Francis, Archbishop Nathanael Nizar Semaan of the Syriac Catholic Church told The National. “We never expected to see the Holy Father in Iraq, but it was a courageous gesture for him to come. It gave us hope for the future,” he said.
During the trip, Pope Francis visited Baghdad and the ancient site of Ur. In Erbil, he said mass in a football stadium for a crowd of thousands. He also met Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani in Najaf. The high-level visit with one of Shiite Islam’s most important figures reflected the Pope's commitment to interfaith dialogue, embodied in the Abu Dhabi Declaration that he co-signed with Sheikh Ahmed El Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar, in 2019.
The most poignant leg of the trip was his time in the northern city of Mosul, which was a shell following its capture by ISIS in 2014. The group’s brutal three-year occupation saw horrific abuses against Christians and other religious minorities and the destruction of churches and other priceless pieces of cultural heritage. The city suffered further damage during the months-long campaign to retake it.
“Today all of us raise our voices in prayer to Almighty God for all the victims of war and armed conflict,” Pope Francis said during a service amid the shattered buildings of the city’s Hosh Al Bieaa, or Church Square. “Here in Mosul, the tragic consequences of war and hostility are all too evident,” he added.
Pope Francis had been determined to deliver that message, but the trip was nearly derailed by security concerns and then the Covid-19 pandemic. “He wanted to come there to celebrate the common origin of humanity and shared responsibility,” Father Olivier Poquillon, who helped to welcome the pontiff to Mosul during the trip, told The National.
“He didn't want to stay only in the capitals, speaking with the big shots, but to share the conditions of the people. This is what Pope Francis did during his pontificate. He was a man of God, and he visited suffering humanity,” he said.
Ms Marcus said she hoped that the next pope would also pay attention to Iraqi Christians like his predecessor. “I prayed for that. Yesterday, I prayed for that,” she said.
Like their counterparts around the world, Iraqi political leaders also paid tribute to the late pontiff. Former Iraqi President Barham Salih, who was in office during the 2021 visit, wrote on social media that he was “deeply saddened by the passing of Pope Francis”. He was a “beacon of compassion and moral courage … may his relentless pursuit of peace, justice and our common humanity endure”, he added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani sent his condolences to Iraq’s Christians and emphasised the pontiff’s efforts to heal divides between the country’s religious communities. His meeting with Mr Al Sistani “laid a meaningful foundation for interfaith dialogue and promoted fraternity and compassion among people of all faiths”, the Prime Minister said.
In total, Pope Francis took more than 45 trips. In addition to Iraq, he was the first pope to visit the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, North Macedonia, Bahrain, and Mongolia. This dedication to carrying the message of his faith off the beaten path endeared him to people around the world.
“It was very important to … tell small communities that the Holy Church is thinking of them and to show the world that Christianity is not a closed religion,” Archbishop Nizar Semaan said. “It is a religion that believes in dialogue.”
