Why does the Pope mean Dhi Qar in his visit to Iraq? What is the importance of the religious and historical city of Ur? 

For weeks, the province of Dhi Qar has been in full swing preparing for the historic visit of the Vatican Pope Francesco to the ancient city of Ur and the so-called “House of the Prophet Abraham Al Khalil,” peace be upon him. The Pope's first visit to Iraq.

Preparations have been made in Dhi Qar province in a large way, where the city of Ur today occupies great importance to the government authorities after it was neglected for years and gained little attention and nothing was allocated to it from the state budget despite its inclusion in the World Heritage List since 2016.

The Pope’s plane landed this morning at Nasiriyah International Airport, after taking off from the city of Najaf, in the presence of a church delegation and political and religious figures from representatives of religions and sects in Iraq, where the governor of Dhi Qar in charge of Abdul Ghani al-Asadi was received in addition to representatives of Iraqi Christians.

The delegation accompanying the Pope during his visit to the ancient sites of Ur (Anatolia)

A social religious visit

Journalist Hussein al-Amel says that the visit of the Pope of the Vatican to the city of Ur has a religious and societal character. The religious aspect of it lies in the importance of this ancient city and its sanctity represented in being the cradle of human civilization and includes the "house of the Prophet Abraham Al Khalil" mentioned in chapter 11 of Genesis in the Bible.

He adds to Al-Jazeera Net as well that the sanctity of this site is of interest to the followers of monotheistic religions, especially Christianity, whose religious center (the Vatican), on more than one occasion, expressed his desire to visit the "house of the Prophet Abraham" in Ur.

As for the social aspect - as the worker says - it is represented by the fact that the visit aims to spread the spirit of brotherhood, tolerance and peace among the Iraqi components, and can give hope to Christians to cling to the land of their fathers and grandfathers, and this is what helps Iraq to preserve its basic components, many of which migrated to the countries of the diaspora. In recent years.

The visit could lead to the possibility of recovering the properties of Christians from the authorities that seized them, as the worker explains, that the visit of the Pope of the Vatican could be effective, especially after his meeting with the supreme Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani and senior Iraqi officials.

The worker considered that the visit of the Pope of the Vatican could open the door to Dhi Qar towards the world, if it was properly invested, by making the city a global center for monotheistic religions and a destination for Christian pilgrims, and others who wish to religious and archaeological tourism, since Dhi Qar includes more than 1,200 archaeological sites dating back to The first root of human civilization.

The importance of the historical visit

In an expanded press conference, the government spokesman and Culture Minister Hassan Nazim confirmed last Monday that the visit is an interfaith dialogue station in the city of Ur, and it will be an opportunity for Iraqi religions to meet there, including Muslims, Christians, Sabean Mandaeans and Yazidis.

And Iraq has an opportunity to benefit from this visit socially and its impact on peace and community harmony, as Nazim explains, as it will have an economic and tourist impact as soon as the Pope puts his feet in religious arguments for its importance to the Pope’s followers and the Catholic Christian religion, expressing his hope that the visit will have a role in reviving tourism in the country. .

Civilized dialogue

The researcher and interested in archaeological affairs, Laith Sahar, explains to Al-Jazeera Net that the visit will contribute to opening the door to civilized dialogue once again, especially since Iraq has lost much of its diversity through the great migration of its Christians and other minorities, perhaps contributing to the preservation of what remains of its human diversity.

The Pope’s visit to Ur is very important at this time, says Sahar, and its results will be important and effective. It will shed light on the human, historical and civilizational values ​​of this city and its great presence in human history in general and the history of the "Abrahamic religions" in particular.

This visit may also constitute an important turning point in extending a helping hand to Iraq in preserving its eternal legacy, especially since Ur is still suffering from neglect.

In the archaeological Ur, the Pope performed a "prayer for religions" (Anatolia)

Historical speech

In a large reception, Pope Ur arrived in which "the house of the Prophet Abraham" is located in the presence of a number of representatives of religions and sects, where he delivered his historical speech, which he said, in part, "We are the descendants of Abraham and none of us can work in isolation from the other, and the interfaith meeting for monotheism and faith began from Here, Abraham started from Ur and became the father of all religions. "

Despite the security warnings, the Pope had arrived in Nasiriyah and delivered a peace speech near the "house of the Prophet Abraham." In the Pope's belief, there is a Christian pilgrimage, which is the largest pilgrimage that begins from the home of the Prophet Abraham and ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The ancient Ziggurat of Ur, I was preparing to visit the Pope of the Vatican (Anatolia)

Security and technical coverage

The spokesman for the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Haider Majeed, confirms that the preparations were in the fullest to complete all the related matters for the success of the Pope's visit, as there was a tremendous government effort and with the participation of a number of government institutions in completing the coverage related to the media and providing logistical and technical details during the visit.

Majeed added, to Al-Jazeera Net, that the government effort was distributed starting from the reception ceremony to receiving foreign delegations that will participate in the events, in addition to the media side and the success of the media plan for the visit in general.

Francesco’s visit has occupied Iraq and the world since Friday, when he arrived in Baghdad and met the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and Iraqi officials, then went to visit the “Our Lady of Deliverance” church in Baghdad, as well as visiting the city of Najaf (south of Baghdad) to meet Sistani and his trip to the south to the city of Nasiriyah and hold mass and prayers near “Beit” Prophet Abraham "to continue his journey back to Baghdad.

Tomorrow, he is expected to visit Erbil (the center of the Kurdistan region) and Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq.