Like many of us, Pope Francis has been holed up at home for the past year, with travel plans canceled thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But the pontiff, who has previously cited fears of his visits sparking superspreader events, broke his quarantine on Friday for a three-day tour of Iraq the first papal visit to the country. (Pope John Paul II cancelled a trip to Iraq in 2000.)
So, why in the world is Pope Francis going to Iraq now? Medical and theological experts are scratching their heads.
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For starters, it’s not a great time for Iraq. Just Wednesday, at least 10 rockets targeted an Iraqi military base. And the Iraqi government is reporting 4,000 new coronavirus infections a day, close to the highest the country has experienced so far though experts think it is undercounting cases. Vaccine rollout has been slow, and the country’s medical infrastructure isn’t strong enough to handle any surges.
About 20 people who knew us wanted to help us with the searches, but the gendarmerie prevented them from coming.. and civilians were not allowed to help. If the permission required had been given, we would have found my mother right away.. Father Remzi Diril, a priest of the Istanbul Chaldean Church and one of the couple s sons, after his mother s body was found bullet wounds in the head and back; interview with
Milliyet, January 11, 2021.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Assyrians in southeast Turkey suffered forced evictions, mass displacement and the burning down of their homes and villages. They were exposed to severe persecution including abductions (including of priests), forced conversions to Islam through rape and forced marriage, and murders. These pressures, and other more insidious forms of discrimination, have decimated the community. Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Assyrians, updated June 2018.