Ur, Iraq-Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, one of\u00a0top\u00a0Shiite clerics, told Pope Francis in a historic meeting in Iraq on Saturday that the country\u2019s Christians should live in \u201cpeace\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting, on the second day of the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, marked a landmark moment in modern religious history and a milestone in Francis\u2019s efforts to deepen interfaith dialogue. Pope Francis later addressed the rich spectrum of Iraq\u2019s religious communities at Ur, traditional birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, a central figure in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, where he made an impassioned plea for \u201cunity\u201d after conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 84-year-old pontiff\u2019s trip to Iraq is an effort to both reassure the country\u2019s ancient but dwindling Christian community and expand his dialogue with other faiths. His meeting with the Grand Ayatollah lasted 50 minutes, and Sistani\u2019s office put out a statement shortly afterwards thanking Francis for visiting the holy city of Najaf. Sistani, 90, \u201caffirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with their full constitutional rights,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His office published an image of the two, neither wearing masks: Sistani in a black turban with his wispy grey beard reaching down to his black robe and Francis all in white, looking directly at the Grand Ayatollah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sistani is extremely reclusive and rarely grants meetings but made an exception to host Pope Francis. The pontiff had landed earlier at Najaf airport, where posters featured a famous saying by Imam Ali (AS), the fourth caliph and the Prophet Mohammed\u2019s relative, who is buried in the holy city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are of two kinds, either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity,\u201d read the banners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018It all started here\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Francis then headed straight to the desert site of the ancient city of Ur, where Prophet Abraham (AS) is believed to have been born in the second millenium BC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt all started from here,\u201d Francis said, after hearing from representatives of Iraq\u2019s diverse religious communities. There were Yazidis, whose ancestral heartland of Sinjar was ravaged by the Islamic State (IS) group in 2014, as well as Mandeans, Kakais, Bahais and Zoroastrians. Shiite and Sunni sheikhs, as well as Christian clerics, were there. Each was wearing their traditional religious garb, with a dozen different types of robe and headdress on display in the red-carpeted pavilion set up for the visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his address, Pope Francis said freedom of conscience and of religion were \u201cfundamental rights\u201d that should be respected everywhere. \u201cWe believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion,\u201d Francis said, in a message of solidarity with the minorities persecuted under IS rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also made an impassioned plea for \u201cunity\u201d after conflict. \u201cLet us ask for this in praying for the whole Middle East. Here I think especially of neighbouring war-torn Syria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the prayer service in Ur, the pope was to head back to Baghdad to preside over a mass at the Saint Joseph Cathedral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The church is located in Karrada district, where the flags of Iraq and the Vatican were hoisted, special forces deployed and concrete barriers had been erected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ur, Iraq-Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, one of\u00a0top\u00a0Shiite clerics, told Pope Francis in a historic meeting in Iraq on Saturday that the country\u2019s Christians should live in \u201cpeace\u201d. The meeting, on the second day of the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, marked a landmark moment in […]<\/p>\n
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