Pope Francis is set to deliver a speech in Iraq today Friday March 5. And he is very upbeat about this.
The ecclesiastical visit is a four-day, six-city visit through the country and will be restricted to a modest bunch of small social gathering and visits to destinations connected to the Bible.
By far, most of Iraq’s Christians will watch the visit, the first by a pontiff to Iraq, on TV. A complete curfew is being imposed for the duration of the outing.
These tough measures have been taken to alleviate the dangers of the visit, which is viewed as Pope Francis’ most hazardous outing up until now, both on account of a cross country spike in Covid cases and due to an uptick in violence in the war-desolated country.
This visit comes at a difficult time for Iraq, yet the country is taking all vital Covid precautionary measures. Pope Francis is set to meet with a little gathering at this congregation, the fist day of his historic visit.
In late January, a twin suicide bombing claimed by ISIS rocked a busy Baghdad marketplace. Rocket attacks by Iran-backed armed groups targeting US positions in the country have become more frequent. Also, only three days before the Pope was expected to show up, rockets hit an airbase lodging US troops.
Ahead of the Pope’s excursion, all the safety measures have been taken from a health perspective.
Pope Francis is set to visit several other destinations related with a portion of Iraq’s most exceedingly terrible misfortunes in its times of strife, including Mosul, the biggest city involved, and attacked, by ISIS.
He is also expected to hold a meeting at a church building in the northern Christian-dominant part city of Qaraqosh. In anticipation of his appearance, Iraq’s Christians are ready for the Pontiff to watch out for their ‘injuries’. They also trust the visit will underscore the predicament of their lessening local area.
Both Christians and Muslims, see the Pope as a man of peace, hence this visit gives Iraq a new image on the world stage.
