Home/Stay Informed/All Diocesan Articles

All Diocesan Articles

Christians and Muslims Alike Welcome Pope Francis' Trip to Iraq

Posted on February 27, 2021 in: News

Christians and Muslims Alike Welcome Pope Francis' Trip to Iraq

EWTN will Begin Coverage with Pope Francis' Arrival in Iraq, March 5th at 6 am Eastern Time 

Rome Newsroom, CNA- March 3, 2021 - Iraqi Christians and Muslims alike have expressed excitement for Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Iraq, an aid worker based in Erbil told CNA this week.

Davide Bernocchi, Catholic Relief Services’ country representative for Iraq, said: “People are really hopeful and grateful for this visit. This country has been at the center of attention for bad news for so many years, unfortunately, and now they are really happy to be the center of the world’s attention for a few days because of this great and positive event.” 

“It’s really not just the Christians; it is the whole of the Iraqi people who are waiting for this visit ... My sense is that -- with the exception of the small remnants of ISIS -- everyone else is really happy about this visit.”

Large banners depicting Pope Francis alongside Ali al-Sistani, an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, have been hung in Najaf, one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in Shiite Islam, after only Mecca and Medina.

A hashtag in Arabic relating to the pope’s trip was trending on social media sites in Iraq on March 3. Iraqis commented on their government’s campaign to beautify the streets of cities that the pope will be visiting and called for improvements to infrastructure and public services.

“I ask the pope to travel by car along the main highway north. Maybe they’ll pave that too,” Hussein Habib wrote, according to an AFP report.

Twenty-nine humanitarian aid organizations operating in Iraq, including Islamic Relief Worldwide and Catholic Relief Services, signed a joint statement on March 2 welcoming Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq, which will take place on March 5-8.

“As faith-based organizations, we fully embrace this message of fraternity and dialogue that Pope Francis is bringing to Iraq,” the aid organizations’ letter said.

“We firmly believe it represents a necessary way forward to heal past wounds and build a future for the country’s diverse communities. We work in collaboration with the national and local authorities to help communities reconcile, rebuild peace, and reclaim their collective rights to safety, services, and livelihoods.”

Hassan Amer, a young Muslim working with Catholic Relief Services’ social cohesion initiative, Shared Future, said: “In Iraq we have a saying,: ‘people for people.’”

“Regardless of their religion, people must be for people. They must support and stand up for others. The pope’s visit underlines this message for Iraqi communities,” Amer said.

Pope Francis’ visit comes as the country’s security situation remains unstable. On March 3, two days before the pope’s departure, 10 rockets hit Ain al-Assad military airport in western Iraq, which hosts US-led coalition troops, killing one US contractor, according to AFP.

In their joint statement, the 29 aid groups highlighted the significant challenges facing Iraq, including the dire need of the country’s 1.2 million internally displaced persons and 4.8 million returnees.

“Iraq is the cradle of human civilization and a beautiful country of rich cultural and religious diversity. For centuries, many ethnic and faith communities lived side by side in this land,” the organizations wrote in their statement.

“However, in recent decades Iraq has suffered from war, insecurity, and instability and, most recently, from the rise of ISIS. Such a sequence of conflicts has deeply strained relations between communities and damaged the country’s social fabric.” 

“Meanwhile, a worsening economic crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is pushing many into poverty and depriving the government of resources needed to assist its own people,” it added.

One way that Catholic Relief Services has been working to help rebuild devastated communities is through the Shared Future program, funded by USAID, which brings together youth from different religions to work together in rebuilding projects.

“I think it is a very interesting project because basically what we do is, in coordination with local religious leaders from different religions, we put together youth and let them analyze the common problems and come up with solutions and then we support the implementation of those solutions financially, technically, etc,” Bernocchi said.

“And so these are joint initiatives that are really useful to reconnect people from different communities because you know the problem is that ISIS had this hellish project to destroy diversity -- and diversity is the social fabric of this country.”

The unemployment rate for young people in Iraq is estimated to be 36%, according to a report published by the Atlantic Council in February.

Low oil prices, government waste and corruption, and a poor security situation further hinder the country’s potential for economic growth. 

About 60% of Iraqi’s population is under the age of 25. According to the report, “many of these young Iraqis are unemployed, or at least under-engaged, meaning that they are often impoverished, bored, and resentful. Many have been traumatized by nearly constant warfare.”

The report said: “Years of conflict have significantly diminished educational opportunities, making many Iraqis unemployable even in trades, due to their lack of skills. There are likely not enough skilled Iraqis to take on technical jobs, should the need for these jobs increase.”

Aid to the Church in Need announced on March 3 that it would be funding 1.5 million euros (around $1.8 million) worth of university scholarships for 150 students at the Catholic University of Erbil, which has students who are Christian, Muslim, and Yazidi.

Welcoming the scholarships, Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil said: “We need to bring good news to the people here during the papal visit; to be able to announce the vision to have 1,000 students by 2025, giving us a significant voice and a clear future for our young people and their parents, brings great hope.” 

By Courtney Mares
Catholic News Agency

Most Viewed Articles of the Last 30 Days

Schedule of Christmas Masses - Cathedral of St. Patrick
The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord - Christmas is on Wednesday, December 25th.   Masses will be celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich as follows:  MASSES for the SOLEMNITY OF CHRISTMAS Tuesday, December 24th 4:00PM 10:00PM** **This year the Midnight Mass will be celebrated at 10:00PM NOT midnight. Livestream will begin at 9:45PM CLICK HERE Mass will also air on radio Station WICH 1310 AM and 94.5FM Wednesday, December 25th 7:30AM 9:00AM 10:30AM 5:00PM The Word beca...

Read More

Faith, Fellowship, and Festive Cheer: A Christmas Celebration with the Sisters in Baltic
The Office of Faith Events brightened the season by making their annual Christmas visit to the Sisters in Baltic. The day was filled with festive joy and the warmth of community as they shared in a timeless tradition of a Christmas Carol sing. Between songs, a special touch was added with Christmas sharing questions, sparking heartfelt memories and laughter. A favorite question, “What was your favorite Christmas gift as a child?” brought delightful responses from the Sisters, including cherished memories of a cowgirl outfit, a Chatty Cathy doll, and Ra...

Read More

Festival of Trees and Traditions Celebrates 50 Years of Holiday Magic
This December, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford welcomes the community to the Festival of Trees and Traditions: 50th Anniversary Golden Holiday Event, a cherished celebration of artistry and holiday spirit running from December 5–15, 2024. This year’s festival features a dazzling array of festive trees and wreaths, each uniquely designed and generously donated by individuals, organizations, and businesses throughout the region. The Diocese of Norwich is proud to contribute two special trees this year, showcasing the spirit of giving and creati...

Read More

Opinion: A Parade of CT Voices of Those Who Do Not Respect Innocent Life
Op-ed written by Christopher Healy, Executive Director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference, published in the Hartford Courant on December 7, 2024: It took little time for the radical abortionists to lose all perspective and credibility as witnessed by the recent effort by establishment media to proclaim a new dark age for women in Connecticut. In the December 1 Hartford Courant article “Family Planning in Era of Trump,” the leaders of the taking of innocent life, Planned Parenthood, have complained that the election of Donald J. Trump will be catastroph...

Read More

Christmas Pastoral from Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne
Christmas 2024 My friends, I am pleased to share with you this Christmas pastoral letter as the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Norwich. Many of you are regular Mass goers.  Some of you come occasionally, once a month or so.  Some come once or twice a year on the major holidays of Christmas or Easter.  For others, this may be the first time you have been in a church for years or maybe even for the first time. To all of you, I say, “Welcome and merry Christmas.” Whatever your relationship with the Church may be, I invite you to c...

Read More

Preparations Begin for Opening Holy Doors at Vatican, Rome Basilicas
The Holy Year 2025 officially begins on Christmas Eve when Pope Francis opens the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica. VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Hours after the last visitors and pilgrims left St. Peter's Basilica for the day, a chisel clanged and dust flew as a group of prelates chanted their prayers before a simple wall marked with a cross. In preparation for the opening on Christmas Eve of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of the basilica, led the brief prayer service and ritual late Dec. 2.  As the cardina...

Read More

Annual Catholic Appeal

ACA DONATE

English

Español

 

Latest Articles
Archbishop Coyne’s Christmas Message — A Call to Peace and Anticipation
January 1: A Holy Day of Obligation
A Timeless Tradition: The 45th Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols at the Cathedral
Santa’s tomb? Coffin of St. Nicholas May Have Been Found — but There’s a Catch
A Life of Faith and Service
Hope Does Not Disappoint: Join the Jubilee Year Mass at the Cathedral
Amid Christmas and Jubilee Preparations, Prepare Your Hearts, Pope Says
Finding the Manger
Recently Added Galleries
Click to view album: 40 Days for Life 2024
Click to view album: Blessing of the Fleet 2024
Click to view album: Mass of Ordination for Fr. Eric Carl Hosmer, Fr. Julian Felipe Cuervo-Lozada and Fr. Alexander James Pandolfe
Click to view album: Norwich Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (NDCCW) 46th Annual Layette
Signup for Weekly Newsletter

     

    Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich
    201 Broadway
    Norwich, CT 06360-4328
    Phone: 860-887-9294