Commentary: The popeâs Iraq visit will make headlines. Can it make life better for religious minorities?
Federal policemen patrol by a concrete wall placed by Iraqi security forces to surround the Our Lady of Salvation Church during preparations for the Pope s visit in Mar Youssif Church in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. (AP/Photo/Hadi Mizban)
By Knox Thames | Religion News Service
  | Feb. 26, 2021, 9:22 p.m. | Updated: 9:31 p.m.
When Pope Francis lands in Iraq on March 5 for an unprecedented papal visit to the country, heâll begin three days of high-level religious diplomacy. In Baghdad, he will meet political leaders and Catholic priests and nuns at the site of an al-Qaeda attack in 2010. The next day, he will travel 100 miles south to Najaf to see Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, one of the worldâs leading Shiite spiritual leaders and the center of gravity for religious life in Iraq.
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