Pope Francis. (IANS File Photo)
Baghdad, March 5 (AP): Pope Francis is urging Iraqis to value their religious minorities and consider them a precious resource to protect, not an obstacle to eliminate as he opened the first-ever papal visit to Iraq with a plea for tolerance and fraternity.
Francis told President Barham Salih and other Iraqi authorities gathered at the Baghdad palace inside the heavily fortified Green Zone that no one should be considered a second-class citizen. He said Iraqis of all faiths deserve to have the same rights and protections as the Shiite Muslim majority.
He said: Only if we learn to look beyond our differences and see each other as members of the same human family will we be able to begin an effective process of rebuilding and leave to future generations a better, more just and more humane world.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns, Francis came to Iraq to try to encourage its dwindling number of Christians, who were violently persecuted by the Islamic State group and face continued discrimination by the Shiite Muslim majority. He is urging them to remain and help rebuild the country after years of war.
Iraq's president welcomed the first-ever papal visit to Iraq as an opportunity to improve Christian-Muslim relations, saying Pope Francis' decision to go ahead with the tour despite the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns had doubled its value.
President Salih spoke Friday at a meeting at the presidential palace with Francis that was attended by other top Iraqi officials shortly after the pontiff's arrival.
Salih lamented that the Middle East was facing a crisis of coexistence owing to regional tensions and extremism. He stressed the importance of peaceful coexistence and the preservation of Iraq's nearly 2,000-year-old Christian community.
He said the East cannot be imagined without Christians," and that their continued migration will have dire consequences." He expressed support for the establishment of an Abraham House for Religious Dialogue, named for the shared patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Iraq was home to nearly 1.5 million Christians before the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and plunged the country into chaos. Church officials say only a few hundred thousand remain, following years of instability and militant attacks.
