Francis prepares first-ever papal visit to Iraq mb.com.ph - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mb.com.ph Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The scant remains of Iraq s ancient Christian community
Some fled after the U.S.-led invasion, others during sectarian bloodshed and more following jihadist attacks. Iraq s last two violent decades have hollowed out its Christian community which dates back two millennia.
After first settling in the fertile plains of Nineveh province before heading for the busy boulevards of Baghdad, more than one million Christians have in more modern times been uprooted by Iraq s consecutive conflicts. By the age of 24, I had already lived through and survived three wars, said Sally Fawzi, an Iraqi Chaldean Catholic, who left her country more than a decade ago and is now living in the U.S. state of Texas.
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.
The pope s Iraq visit will make headlines Can it make life better for religious minorities? religionnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from religionnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Straits Times
Iraq s Christian community is one of the oldest and most diverse in the world.PHOTO: AFP
PublishedFeb 22, 2021, 1:33 pm SGT
https://str.sg/JHzF
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