Published March 12. 2021 5:11PM
The most stunning global event last week was the historic meeting of Pope Francis with Shiite Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in a small, bare room in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq.
I say that not just because of the pope’s astonishing bravery in attempting to protect the remnants of Iraq’s ancient Christian sects, whose numbers have dwindled from around 1.5 million to 250,000, under attacks from ISIS and other violent Islamist extremists since the 2003 U.S. invasion. At age 84, in the time of COVID-19, the pope’s journey to Iraq was not for the faint hearted.
Nor do I say it only because the reclusive, ailing 94-year-old Sistani, perhaps the most revered Shiite cleric in the world, stood to greet the pope and joined him in condemning extremism.