Pope Francis announces apostolic visit to Iraq

Christians in Iraq have suffered much persecution, violence and neglect over the last few decades. Aid to the Church in Need has been proud to stand beside our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq. to the delight of many Christians in Iraq, Pope Francis has announced that he will visit their country in March 2021.

By Clodagh Gallagher

Aid to the Church in Need Executive-President, Thomas Heine-Geldern, alongside Pope Francis. (Credit: Servizio Fotografico Vaticano.)

Today the Vatican announced that Pope Francis is set to break his 15 month hiatus from international travel. From 5-8 March 2021, he will make an apostolic visit to Iraq, marking the first time any pontiff will have visited the country. Iraq is a country that he has spoken of visiting since 2019, when he told a meeting of Catholic aid agencies that he “think[s] constantly of Iraq”. He said, “[I] hope that [Iraq] can face the future through the peaceful and shared pursuit of the common good on the part of all elements of society, including the religious, and not fall back into hostilities sparked by the simmering conflicts of the regional powers.”

Executive President of ACN International, Dr Thomas Heine-Gelder responded to the Vatican’s announcement: "This news of Pope Francis’s Apostolic Journey to Iraq fills us with great joy and gratitude. The Christians in Iraq have awaited this announcement with much anticipation. The visit is a sign of hope for the afflicted Christians who have faced a ‘way of the cross’ of persecution and discrimination for decades. This trip is another sign of the closeness and concern of the Pope for the Christians in the Middle East. His visit will strengthen them and spark new courage to stay in their homeland. Without the support of the Holy Father and the universal Church, these communities in the cradle of Christianity are threatened with disappearing."

Mgr. Nizar Semaan ordained Archbishop in Iraqi hometown for Syriac Catholic Church. (Credit: Aid To The Church In Need.)

In visiting Iraq, Pope Francis will fully realise the plans of his predecessor Pope Saint John Paul II, whose trip to the country was postponed by Saddam Hussein in 1999, after months of negotiations. According to the Press Office statement, Pope Francis will visit Baghdad, the plain of Ur, the city of Erbil and Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Nineveh. Syriac Catholic Archbishop Nizar Semaan of Hadiab-Erbil received the announcement with joy, stating: “I am full of happiness. This is just the greatest news because I think the visit will have a big impact of the lives of Christians in Iraq. The Pope’s decision to visit is a sign of the Holy Spirit at work. This announcement that the Pope is coming to visit us shows how much the Pope cares about Christianity in the Middle East and especially in Iraq.”

Pope Francis’ visit to these specific regions in Iraq (Baghdad, Erbil, Ur and Nineveh) are important in the ongoing promotion of peace there, where Christians have been mercilessly persecuted by Islamists for decades. In 2003, there were 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq. Subsequent international war and occupation of the Nineveh Plains by the Islamic State have reduced that number to 300,000. Simultaneously, 1.7 million Iraqi people have been displaced through Islamist violence, government corruption and economic crisis. In 2014, Christians in the Nineveh Plains were surrounded, overwhelmed and violently persecuted by ISIS. Most remaining Christians fled.

Mgr. Yousif Thomas Mirkis (Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimanya) in 2016 with some IDP families during one of the distributions of emergency food and financial aid. (Credit: Aid To The Church In Need.)

ACN reacted immediately and have remained a constant presence in Iraq since then. To ensure the survival of 11,800 Iraqi Christian families who are displaced with Iraq and to protect the Nineveh Plains, ACN undertook one of its largest emergency aid commitments ever. Between 2014 and 2019, ACN provided € 46.5 million to protect Christians under fire in Iraq. Of that figure, € 34.5 million went to aid projects in Iraq; supporting Christian families with basic sanitary and food needs; temporary housing, temporary schools and medical care. Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq in March 2021 will signal fresh hope for the many Iraqi Christians who have spent decades suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Reconstruction of St Kiryakos Church in Batnaya, January 2020. (Credit: Aid To The Church In Need.)

Today, ACN is in the next phase of our reconstruction plan for Iraqi Christians. Our central objective is to rebuild the infrastructure of the Church-run facilities in the Christian cities and towns of the Nineveh Plains - one of the regions Pope Francis will visit in March. Of the 363 churches designated for reconstruction or repair, 34 had been totally destroyed, 132 had been severely burned and 197 had been partially damaged. 87% of these churches will also be given new social or welfare supports, including parish halls, educational facilities, orphanages, residential care homes, clinics, and residences for support staff - such as teachers, health personnel, or psychosocial professionals. All of this reconstruction work has been made possible through your generosity.