UR (IRAQ) – Pope Francis visited a narrow alleyway in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf to conduct a historic meeting with the country’s top Shi’ite cleric. He visited the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham on Saturday slamming violence by people in the name of God as “the greatest blasphemy”.
The inter-religious events organised consecutively with some 200 km (125 miles) apart, emphasised the main reason behind his risky trip to Iraq.
Francis said in Ur, where Abraham was born, “From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters.”
Francis, sitting with Muslim, Christian and Yazidi leaders, spoke with the archaeological dig of the 4,000 year-old city in sight, which comprises a pyramid-style Ziggurat, a residential complex, temples and palaces.
Hours earlier in Najaf, Francis met Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a visit that indicated coexistence in a country struck by violence.
Sistani, 90, is one of the most influential figures in Shi’ite Islam, with regard to Iraq and beyond. Their meeting was the first between a pope and such a senior Shi’ite cleric.
Sistani, after the meeting, called on world religious leaders to hold great powers accountable, so that there is a prevalence of wisdom and sense over war. He added Christians should live like all Iraqis, holding onto peace and coexistence.
In a statement, Sistani said, “Religious and spiritual leadership must play a big role to put a stop to tragedy … and urge sides, especially great powers, to make wisdom and sense prevail and erase the language of war”.
They met at the humble home Sistani has rented for years, near the golden-domed Imam Ali shrine in Najaf. According to an official Vatican photo, Sistani was seen in his traditional black Shi’ite robe and turban sitting across from Francis.
A local Church official said Jews were contacted and invited but the situation for them was “complicated” particularly as they have no structured community. ]
The pope said at Ur, “Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: they are betrayals of religion,” We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion; indeed, we are called unambiguously to dispel all misunderstandings.”
Iraq’s Christian community, considered one of the oldest in the world, has been particularly ravaged, falling to about 300,000 from about 1.5 million before the US went ahead with their invasion, which was also followed by the brutal Islamist militant violence.
At Ur, Francis was all praise for young Muslims for helping Christians bring back their churches “when terrorism invaded the north of this beloved country”.
Rafah Husein Baher, a member of the small, ancient Sabean Mandaean religion, thanked Francis for making the trip in spite of having problems in the country, which include rise in COVID-19 cases and a recent spate of rocket and suicide bomb attacks.
“Your visit means a triumph of virtue, it is a symbol of appreciation to Iraqis, Blessed is he who uproots fear from souls.”
On Sunday, Pope travels north to Mosul, a former Islamic State stronghold, where churches and other buildings there still bear the remnants of the conflict.