Iraqi President, Vatican Pope talk stability, Christians in Iraq
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi President Barham Salih visited the Vatican on Saturday to hold meetings with Pope Francis and discuss the current turmoil Iraq faces, notably the situation of Christians in the country.
The Iraqi president held private talks with the Pope that lasted for about 30 minutes, then he met with the two most senior diplomats in the Vatican, the Secretary of the Vatican State Cardinal Petro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, who serves as foreign minister.
The two sides held “cordial talks…focused on the challenges [Iraq] currently faces,” noting “the importance of promoting stability and the reconstruction process, encouraging the path of dialogue and the search for suitable solutions in favor of citizens and with respect for national sovereignty,” a statement from the Vatican press office said, according to Vatican News.
In early January, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq, hosting American forces, in response to Washington’s killing of Iranian General Qasim Soleimani in a strike carried out by a drone at Baghdad airport on Jan. 3.
Days after the American strikes, which along with Soleimani killed a top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi parliament approved a resolution that tasked the government with working out a mechanism for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq.
After the Iranian attack, Pope Francis urged the United States and Iran to avoid escalation and seek “dialogue and restraint” to avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East.
President Salih and Pope Francis also talked about “the importance of preserving the historical presence of Christians in the country…highlighting the need to guarantee their security and a place in the future of Iraq.”
In mid-2019, Pope Francis announced that he wanted to embark on a first papal visit to Iraq in 2020. However, recent tensions and widespread protests across southern and central parts of the country could make it impossible for him to conduct such a trip.
Since the fall of the former Iraqi regime, the country has been the site of multiple bouts of unrest, the most recent iteration of which was the war against the so-called Islamic State.
When the terror group emerged in Iraq in 2014, tens of thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes, with many seeking refuge in the autonomous Kurdistan Region and others in Europe and the US.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany