Pope Francis: Iraq, the journey to make!
Pope francesco: the journey to make. Will leave for journey in Iraq, a difficult journey also considering the health situation we are experiencing in this perish all over the world. It comes true, therefore a dream already made by John Paul II back in 1999. The purpose of this trip would be to support Iraqi Christians in the reconstruction of the country now devastated by war and terrorism.
It was 1999, when John Paul II planned a short but meaningful pilgrimage to Ur dei Chadei, the first stage of the journey jubilee in the places of salvation. But the trip was not recommended, because in reality it would have exacerbated relations with Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. He wanted to start from Abraham, by the common father recognized by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Pope Wojtyla did not want to know otherwise despite many attempts by the American President.
The pope, has a very specific objective, wants to base all relations with the East on "dialogue”A means by which the pontiff would like to rebuild the country. The country has been on its knees since 1999, due to the bloody war against Iran (1980-1988) and the international sanctions following the invasion of Kuwait and the first Gulf War. The Argentine pope wants to realize the dream of the Polish pope, after the war, less than half of the Christians in Iraq remained, these are the words of the pontiff: "I belong to that generation that lived through the Second World War and survived. I have a duty to say to all young people, to those younger than me, who have not had this experience: 'No more war!', as Paul VI said in his first visit to the United Nations. We must do everything possible! ”.
Pope Francis: the journey to be made to fight ISIS
Pope Francis: the journey to make to fight the ISIS. Iraq was hit by terrorism, and in 2014 ISIS was proclaimed, all focused on violence and death. Obviously, it is certainly not the state or whoever manages them that pays the costs, but the population, the innocent people. the pontiff wished to engrave in his latest encyclical “Brothers all”: “We can no longer think of war as a solution, since the risks will probably always exceed the hypothetical utility attributed to it. Faced with this reality, today it is very difficult to support the rational criteria developed in other centuries to speak of a possible 'just war'. No more war! ... Every war leaves the world worse than it found it. War is a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful surrender.
Many Christians of the place, due to the war they had to leave their home, they left their traditions but above all they witnessed the collapse of the Catholic church or an ancient church that for many of them was a spiritual point of reference. Many Christians have been waiting for it for years, a bit like looking for the "salvation"Spiritual. Pope Francis said, that he wants to make this trip at all costs, he wants to do it as pope and not betray in Rome.
Despite all the risks, he does not want to disappoint the Iraqis, the heart of the first international trip after fifteen months of forced blockade due to the consequences of Covid-19, will be the appointment of Ur, in the city from which the patriarch Abraham left. This is an opportunity to reunite the whole world including the Middle East with the prayer , brotherhood.