Pope Francis Meets Top Shiite Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani During Trip to Iraq, Calls For Abrahamic Unity swarajyamag.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from swarajyamag.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Modern Diplomacy
Published 1 month ago
When Pope Francis sets foot in Iraq on Friday, he will be breaking historic ground while manoeuvring religious and political minefields. So will his foremost religious counterpart, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani, one of the Shia Muslim world’s foremost scholars and leaders.
The three-day visit contrasts starkly with past papal trips to the Middle East that included Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan, states that, unlike neighbouring Iran, are more accustomed to inter-faith interactions because of their Sunni Muslim history and colonial experience or in the case of Shia-majority Azerbaijan a modern history of secular and communist rule.