Pope Francis meets Iraq's top Shiite cleric Ali Sistani, appeals for 'peace and unity'

Pope Francis meets Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Ali Sistani, appeals for ‘peace and unity’

The 84-year-old pontiff’s trip to Iraq is an effort to comfort the country’s ancient but dwindling Christian community and deepen its dialogue with representatives of other religions.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader of the majority of the world’s Shiite Muslims, told Pope Francis at a historic meeting in Iraq on Saturday that the country’s Christians must live in “peace.”

The meeting, on the second day of the first papal visit to Iraq, marked a historic moment in modern religious history and a milestone in Francis’ efforts to deepen dialogue with other religions.

He later addressed the rich spectrum of Iraqi religious communities in Ur, the traditional birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, a central figure in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions, where he made a passionate call for “unity” after the conflict. .

The 84-year-old pontiff’s trip to Iraq is an effort both to comfort the country’s old but dwindling Christian community and to deepen its dialogue with other religions.

His meeting with the Grand Ayatollah lasted 50 minutes, and Sistani’s office released a statement shortly after thanking Francis for visiting the holy city of Najaf.

Sistani, 90, “affirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with all their constitutional rights,” he said.

His office posted an image of the two, neither wearing masks: Sistani in a black turban with his thin gray beard reaching down to his black robe and Francis all in white, looking directly at the Grand Ayatollah.

Sistani is extremely reclusive and rarely grants meetings, but made an exception by hosting Francis, an outspoken advocate of interfaith dialogue.

The pope had earlier landed at Najaf airport, where posters had been posted with a famous saying by Ali, the fourth caliph and relative of the prophet Muhammad, who is buried in the holy city.

“People are of two kinds, either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity,” read the banners.

– ‘It all started here’ –
Francis then headed straight for the desert site of the ancient city of Ur, where Abraham is believed to have been born in the second millennium BC.

“It all started from here,” Pope Francis said, after hearing from representatives of Iraq’s various religious communities.

There were Yazidis, whose ancestral heart of Sinjar was devastated by the Islamic State group in 2014, as well as Mandaeans, Kakais, Bahais and Zoroastrians.

Shia and Sunni sheiks were present, as well as Christian clergy.

Each wore their traditional religious garb, with a dozen different types of robes and headdresses on display in the red carpeted pavilion prepared for the visit.

Iraq is a Muslim-majority country of 40 million whose Christian population has dropped to just 1 percent in the past two decades, and minorities still complain of ostracism and persecution.

During his speech, Pope Francis said that freedom of conscience and religion are “fundamental rights” that must be respected everywhere.

“We believers cannot keep silent when terrorism abuses religion,” Francisco said, in a message of solidarity with the minorities persecuted under the IS government.

He also made a passionate plea for “unity” after the conflict.

“Let us ask for this as we pray throughout the Middle East. Here I am thinking especially of neighboring war-torn Syria,” he said.

After the prayer service in Ur, Pope Francis will return to Baghdad to preside over a mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

– ‘Cease party interests’ –
Pope Francis, a staunch advocate of interfaith dialogue, has met with leading Sunni clerics in several Muslim-majority countries, including Bangladesh, Morocco, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Sistani is followed by the majority of the world’s 200 million Shiites, a minority among Muslims but the majority in Iraq, and is a national figure for Iraqis.

In 2019, he supported Iraqi protesters demanding better public services and rejecting outside interference in Iraqi internal affairs.

On Friday in Baghdad, Pope Francis made a similar request.

“That partisan interests cease, those outside interests that do not take into account the local population,” said Francis.

Sistani has had a complicated relationship with his birthplace, Iran, where the other main headquarters of the Shiite religious authority is located: Qom.

While Najaf affirms the separation of religion and politics, Qom believes that the top cleric, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, should also rule.

Iraqi clerics and Christian leaders said the visit could strengthen Najaf’s position compared to Qom.

In Abu Dhabi in 2019, the Pope met with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and a key authority for Sunni Muslims.

They signed a text encouraging Christian-Muslim dialogue, which Catholic clerics hoped Sistani would also endorse, but the meeting passed without such endorsement.

While the Pope was vaccinated and encouraged others to receive the vaccine, Sistani’s office has not announced his vaccination.

Iraq is currently in the grip of a resurgence of coronavirus cases, registering more than 5,000 infections and more than two dozen deaths a day.

Subscribe to Moneycontrol Pro at ₹ 499 for the first year. Use code PRO499. Limited time offer. * Terms and conditions apply