Christmas in March

Pope Francis has accepted the official invitation of the Republic of Iraq and of the Iraqi Chaldean Catholic Church. Final itinerary is not yet available, a detailed program will be released at a later date. It is since the end of the first century that Christians have been living in the territory of present-day Iraq already, where the Chaldean Catholic Church is taken as one of the oldest Christian communities.
In January this year the Pope met President Barham Salih of Iraq. Their talks were focused on the challenges of Iraq and its region, as well as on the situation of the local Christian population. At the meeting a possible 2020 pontifical trip to the Iraqi Christian communities came again into consideration, but due to both the pandemic and the newly flared up local conflicts it had to be postponed. However, early March next year the chance is there…
The Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Louis Raphael Sako, also a guest speaker of the International Eucharistic Congress, welcomed the announcement of the Pope Francis’s upcoming visit to Iraq, calling it as a sign of huge hope for the “long- suffering Christian communities of the Middle-East.”

“When His Holiness will come to visit us, he will bring the
message of hope and relief to the Christians of the Middle-East
living for so long in uncertainty and fear.”

- were his words on the visit. The Head of one of the largest Christian communities of the Middle-East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, spoke about the Pope’s decision in an interview with the Vatican Radio. “This is a courageous gesture, especially in these hard, challenging times. This trip ‘will be like a new Christmas’ for the local Christians. It’s going to be a pilgrimage under the banner of human fraternity. People are eagerly awaiting this visit, and are keen to hear the Holy Father’s words. Moreover, Pope Francis is honoured by the Muslims as well.” – said Patriarch Sako.
There have been hard works for a long time to organize the Apostolic Journey to Mesopotamia. Already in 2018, during the Iraqi bishops’ visit to Rome, Sako had made a gesture by presenting a detailed travel program to Iraq, which included visits to locations such as Ur, Baghdad, and Mosul. President Barham Salih invited Pope Francis also in 2019, after the Holy Father had earlier mentioned his desire to visit Iraq.

“The Holy Father has been dreaming for a long time to pay a visit to the land
of Abraham; I do hope this time things turn out well and the journey is going
to become a reality after all.”

- voiced his hope Patriarch Sako.
It’s almost two decades by now that Iraq has been facing back to back conflicts, and Christians in the region have been suffering a lot. - recalled Sako. Most of the faithful fled the country due to fear of war violence and terrorism. In 2003, before the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, around 1.5 million Christians were counted in Iraq, since then the number has fallen drastically, figuring now an estimated 400-500 thousand.
In early 2020 Patriarch Sako likened the Iraqi situation to “a soon to be erupting volcano.” During the several weeks of demonstrations around the entire country people of Iraq expressed their displeasure over the persistent poverty, unemployment and the poor quality services. Protesters called for the complete replacement of the political elite being in power since the 2003 US occupation, and demanded for strict measures to be taken against the widespread and overwhelming corruption.
Sako has already expressed his deep disappointment that Iraq has been simply unable to find a way out of the corruption, the division of the society, the illegal enrichment of a certain social circle, and of the legal uncertainty.
Now it’s the pandemic that also tests people’s strength, since fatality has already amounted up to 15 thousand. In such a situation the Holy Father’s visit is a matter of high importance to the faithful.

Source: kathpress.at
Photo: IEC Secretariat