Iraqis between enthusiasm and concern on the eve of the Pope's visit
Many welcome posters cover the walls of Baghdad before the arrival of the Pope.
REUTERS - KHALID AL-MOUSILY
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
Pope Francis begins a historic visit to Iraq this Friday.
This is the first time that a pope has visited this country, where the challenges remain immense and the security situation particularly unstable.
This trip will last three days, during which the Sovereign Pontiff will visit Baghdad, Najaf and Ur in the south of the country, then to Erbil, Qaraqosh and Mosul in the north.
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With our correspondent in Iraq
,
Lucile Wassermann
In the streets of Baghdad, there are hundreds of posters bearing the effigy of
Pope Francis
.
Welcome messages, relayed by the inhabitants, such as Ahmed, 36 years old: “
His visit is important, we welcome him here!
God willing, his efforts to reconcile religions will pay off, especially for Christians.
I hope it will promote peace here, because we all belong to this country, we are all brothers, Muslims or Christians
.
"
For the occasion, the authorities have refurbished all the sites that the Pope will visit.
A first for decades, some residents say ironically: “
Today, there is even electricity in the ancient city of Ur, which the Pope will visit in Nassiriya
,” says one of them.
This had not happened for
4000 years
!
That's good, they suddenly care about historical monuments and the links between religions.
"
Others fear this visit, they believe that the security situation is not good enough.
Like Fatima, an Iraqi woman who now lives in the United States: “
It's crazy, it's not really reassuring ... I was afraid to come.
I am Iraqi and I was afraid to come back here!
Even a few minutes before my flight ... I almost canceled.
"
The visit of the Sovereign Pontiff is to last three days.
REUTERS - KHALID AL-MOUSILY
Impatience of Christians
Obviously,
this visit
is particularly awaited by the community of Christians in Iraq, which has shrunk over the years.
In Erbil, where the Pope will celebrate a Mass, Artemis and her sister Um Fadi, in her fifties, still find it hard to believe: “To
see the Pope was the desire of my father and my husband.
At the time, the Pope intended to visit Iraq, but had canceled, fearing something would happen to him.
Today, he will come, but we are the ones who are afraid for him.
"
50 km to the west, Qaraqosh, Iraq's largest Christian city, has been preparing for the occasion for weeks.
It is a visit of the utmost importance according to Abouna George, one of the priests of this city: “
It gives hope, enthusiasm, to all the Iraqi people who have suffered so much.
"
For Sammar, one of the inhabitants of Qaraqosh, this visit will even decide the fate of Christians in Iraq.
"
The Pope's visit will tell us whether the Christians will stay or go,
" he said.
Whether or not Christians will be worthy again here.
"
A little further to the east is Mosul, a battered city, a city destroyed by the war waged against the Islamic State group.
There are only a few dozen Christians left here, compared to 45,000 in 2003. Sabah Aziz Ibrahim is one of them.
"
I would like to send him some good news
," he explains, "
to tell him that the security is there and what happened does not come back."
"
►
Also to listen:
The Christians of Iraq, after Daesh
Reconciliation message
The pope's coming is, however, placed under close surveillance.
Two days before this, a rain of rockets fell again on a US military installation.
But the sovereign pontiff does not budge: he will tread Iraqi soil.
On the eve of his departure, this Thursday, Pope Francis again sent a vibrant and very personal message to the Iraqis, evoking their “
years of war and terrorism
” and calling for “
reconciliation
”.
"I so desire to meet you, to see your faces, to visit your land, ancient and extraordinary cradle of civilization", he launched in a video message.
The visit will nevertheless be just as virtual for a large part of the Iraqis, who will have to content themselves with watching the sovereign pontiff on television, the country being placed from Thursday midnight in strict containment with more than 5,000 Covid-19 contaminations each. day now.
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