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The papal plane from Rome landed punctually at 2 p.m. on Friday at Baghdad airport.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi waited on the red carpet and led Pope Francis to the welcome ceremony in the VIP lounge.

Then we drove through the Iraqi capital in a bulletproof BMW past cheering people.

The first stop was the presidential palace of the head of state Barham Salih.

A flock of doves of peace rose to the sky.

A military band was playing.

Men in white kaftans and with drawn sabers stood in line.

Iraq rarely offers so much pomp and glory for a state guest.

But with Pope Francis everything is a little different.

It's a historic visit.

The country, shaken by wars and crises, has already sent several invitations to Rome over the past 20 years.

Most recently in 2019. But it never happened.

But now the time has finally come.

Pope Francis is the first Catholic leader to ever visit Iraq.

And only because the 84-year-old Pontius rejected all concerns about the trip.

President Barham Salih (2nd from left) greets Pope Francis with an honor guard in front of the presidential palace

Source: dpa

It is said that the Vatican would have preferred to postpone the trip.

Because Iraq is still a war zone.

In January, 32 people died in suicide bombings in Baghdad.

Two weeks ago there was an attack on a military base in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, which the Pope is also visiting.

It was not until Wednesday that missiles hit a military base in western Iraq.

And then there is the Covid-19 pandemic.

Infection cases are increasing in Iraq.

“I do not want to disappoint the people,” affirmed Pope Francis before his departure.

"The Iraqis are waiting for us."

"I come as a pilgrim"

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The church leader is known to do many things differently from his predecessors.

He brushed aside advice from his security apparatus.

There is a good reason for that.

With his “emblematic visit” he wants to give “the tormented country” hope again and set a sign for peace.

“I come as a pilgrim, as a repentant pilgrim, to ask the Lord for forgiveness and reconciliation after years of war and terrorism, to ask God to give comfort to hearts and to heal wounds.” The Pope is looking for Iraq interdenominational dialogue.

On Saturday, in Najaf Ayatollah, he met Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq.

Then he flew in a helicopter to the plain of Ur, from which, according to biblical tradition, Abraham came, to whom Jews, Christians and Muslims refer.

An interreligious meeting took place there, a matter close to the heart of Francis, as he emphasized before starting the journey: “With you, Abraham began his journey thousands of years ago.

Today it is up to us to continue it, in the same spirit, by walking the paths of peace together. "

But Pope Francis is primarily addressing Iraqi Christians.

He wants to encourage them to stay in Iraq.

Because for years more and more Christians have been migrating, mainly to Europe.

Iraq, of all places, once the cradle of Christian civilization, is threatened with the exodus of all believers.

The country has not settled down since the American invasion in 2003.

The Christian community, one of the oldest in the world, was hit particularly hard.

The terror of radical Islamist groups drove them into emigration.

First al-Qaeda, then IS

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First of all, it was the al-Qaida attacks whose terrorist squads attacked churches during mass.

The Islamic State (IS) came in 2014.

Of once 1.5 million believers, only between 150,000 and 250,000 are left today.

"Most of them sit on packed suitcases," says Simon Jacob from the Central Council of Oriental Christians in Germany.

“The papal trip has great symbolic significance, but nothing more if you ask the Christian citizens in Iraq,” continues Jacob.

The call to hope is well meant, but Jacob believes that unless there is security, civic equality and the prospect of self-government, a Christian cannot be persuaded to stay.

"Let alone persuade someone to return from Europe to the Middle East."

Joseph Yacoub Matti sees it very similarly in Erbil.

"It is a spiritual visit with a deep meaning for the reconciliation of all ethnicities and religions," says the chairman of the Beth Nahrain Union Party in the Christian quarter of the capital of Kurdistan.

"But we also need political reforms, social justice and the development of federal structures."

Yacoub is thinking in particular of an autonomous administration of the Nineveh Plain.

The region, steeped in history, is predominantly inhabited by Christians.

There are centuries-old churches and monasteries that IS ravaged seven years ago.

The extremists destroyed churches and Christian symbols.

The faces of images of saints, even lions and horses, were destroyed.

It is not for nothing that the Pope visits not only the metropolis of Mosul but also the small town of Karakosh, one of the Christian places hardest hit by the IS terrorism.

Like many other Iraqis, David thinks less of politics.

He flew to Iraq with a group of friends from Berlin.

“We just want to see the Pope,” says the young man, who comes from Kurdistan.

“It is a great honor when the Pope visits our country.” On Sunday, David and his friends want to attend mass in Erbil, where 10,000 participants are expected in the football stadium.

On the way there are huge posters with photos of the Pope along the street.

The visit of the Catholic head of the church is a topic of conversation everywhere.

"I'm really happy and I don't know anyone who would be otherwise," says a Muslim taxi driver in Erbil himself.

"I'm not a Christian, but the message is that all religions should stand together."

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