Pope heads for Iraq in historic first
The pope will land in Iraq tomorrow for a three-day pilgrimage.
![Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein holds a press conference at the Babylon Hotel in the capital Baghdad, on March 4, 2021, on the eve of the first papal visit to Iraq. - Pope Francis begins a historic 4-day trip to war-scarred Iraq on March 5, defying security concerns and the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Sabah ARAR / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Sabah ARAR has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [March 4] instead of [February 4]. Please im](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_large/public/almpics/2021/03/GettyImages-1231514369.jpg/GettyImages-1231514369.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=YwzB_FYK "1231514369")
For the first time in history, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, Pope Francis, will visit Iraq March 5-8.
“Tomorrow I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage,” the pope tweeted today. “I have long wanted to meet those people who have suffered so much.” Iraqis have also been waiting a long time for this moment.
The former pope, St. John Paul II, had expressed a wish to visit Iraq in 2000 and carry a message of unity among Abrahamic religions on a trip from southern Iraq to the Holy Land.
"If it be God's will, I would like to go to Ur of the Chaldees, the present-day Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq, the city where, according to the biblical account, Abraham heard the word of the Lord," the late pope said.
