BAGHDAD (AP) – In the most sacred city in Iraq, a pontiff will meet a venerated ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions.
One is the chief pastor of the world Catholic Church, the other is a prominent figure in Shiite Islam, whose opinion has a strong influence on Iraqi streets and beyond. Their meeting will resonate across Iraq, even crossing borders with its neighbor, especially Shi’ite Iran.
Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are expected to meet on Saturday for a maximum of 40 minutes, part of the time alone, except for interpreters, at the Shiite cleric’s modest home in the city of Najaf. Every detail has been examined in advance in careful behind-the-scenes preparations that covered everything from shoes to seating arrangements.
Geopolitical overtones weigh on the meeting, along with the twin threats of a viral pandemic and ongoing tensions with rogue rocket-backed groups supported by Iran.
For the shrinking Christian minority in Iraq, a demonstration of al-Sistani’s solidarity could help secure his place in Iraq after years of displacement – and, they hope, lessen the intimidation of Shiite militiamen against his community.
Iraqi officials in the government also see the symbolic power of the meeting – as does Tehran.
Al Sistani, 90, has been a consistent counterweight to Iranian influence. With the meeting, Francisco is implicitly recognizing him as the main interlocutor of Shiite Islamism over his rival, the supreme Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. News of the meeting heightened long-standing rivalries between the Shi’ite seminars in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom, which lies in the center of the Shi’ite world.
“It will be a private visit unprecedented in history and will have no equal to any previous visit,” said a religious official in Najaf, involved in the planning.
For the Vatican, it was a decades-long encounter that eluded Francis’s predecessors.
“Najaf did not make it easy,” said a Christian religious official close to planning on the Vatican side, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the visit.
In December, Louis Sako, the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, told the Associated Press that the church was trying to schedule a meeting between Francisco and the ayatollah. It was included in the first draft of the program, “but when the (Vatican) delegation visited Najaf, there were problems,” he said, without giving further details.
The church continued to insist.
“We know the importance and impact of Najaf on the Iraqi situation,” said Sako. What value would the pope’s message of coexistence in Iraq have, they determined, if he did not seek the support of his most powerful and respected religious figure?
Sako finally confirmed the meeting in January, weeks after the pontiff’s itinerary was put together.
Al-Sistani rarely interferes with governance issues. When he did, it changed the course of modern Iraqi history.
His edict provided many Iraqis with reasons to participate in the January 2005 elections, the first after the 2003 US-led invasion. His 2014 fatwa summoning healthy men to fight the IS group has vastly increased ranks. of the Shiite militias. In 2019, while anti-government demonstrations were taking over the country, his sermon led to the resignation of then Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
The Vatican’s hope was that Francis would sign a document with al-Sistani promising human brotherhood, just as he did with the influential great Sunni Islamist al-Azhar imam, Ahmed el-Tayeb, based in Egypt.
The signature was one of many elements that the two sides negotiated extensively. In the end, Shiite religious officials in Najaf told the AP that a signature was not on the agenda and that al-Sistani will issue a verbal statement.
Every minute of Saturday’s meeting is likely to unfold as meticulously as a scripted play.
The 84-year-old pontiff’s train will stop along the busy Rasool street in Najaf, which culminates in the Imam Ali Shrine, one of the most revered sites in the world by Shiites.
Next door is an alley too narrow for cars. Here, Francisco will walk 30 meters to al-Sistani’s modest house, which the clergyman has rented for decades. Waiting to meet you at the entrance will be al-Sistani’s influential son, Mohammed Ridha.
Inside, and a few steps to the right, the pontiff will come face to face with the ayatollah.
Each will make a simple gesture of mutual respect.
Francis is going to take off his shoes before entering al-Sistani’s room.
Al-Sistani, who normally remains seated to receive visitors, will rise to greet Francis at the door and lead him to a blue L-shaped sofa, inviting him to sit.
“This has not happened for His Eminence with any guests before,” said a religious official from Najaf.
He will remain standing, despite his fragile health, religious officials said. Since fracturing his thigh last year, the clergyman has been firmly installed at home. Francis suffers from sciatica.
The Pope will receive tea.
“His Eminence will provide His Holiness with a message of peace and love for all humanity,” said the official.
Gifts will be exchanged.
It is unclear what Najaf will grant, but Francis will almost certainly present al-Sistani bound copies of his most important writings, including his latest encyclical “All Brothers”, on the need for greater fraternity among all peoples to make a more real world. peaceful, ecologically sustainable and fair.
So far, papal plans to visit Iraq have failed.
The late Pope John Paul II was unable to go in 2000, when negotiations were interrupted with the government of then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
One setback after another almost sank this one too.
Iraq suffered a second wave of coronavirus last month, spurred on by the new, more infectious strain that broke out in the UK. At the same time, a wave of rocket attacks was resumed with a view to the American presence in the country. The US blames the militias aligned with Iran.
These same groups, strengthened after the al-Sistani fatwa, are accused of terrorizing Christians and preventing them from returning home. The Iraqi government and religious authorities are concerned that these militias may carry out rocket attacks in Baghdad or elsewhere to show their dissatisfaction with Al-Sistani’s meeting with Francisco.
As Pope, Francis occupies the top of an official hierarchy that governs the Catholic Church. Al-Sistani’s position is more informal, based on tradition and reputation. He is considered one of the most prestigious Shiite religious scholars in the world, the main light at the Najaf seminaries, which has earned him worldwide reverence.
Iran’s Khamenei and Qom seminars compete for this prestige. Al-Sistani’s school of thought is opposed to direct government by the clergy, the system in force in Iran, where Khamenei has the final say on all matters.
“The visit can potentially upset some people and they may try to delay or cancel the visit, I have this concern,” said a second official in Najaf. “Who could be upset? Hawza de Qom, ”he said, using the Arabic term to refer to the seminars.
Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran’s Supreme Court, considered a potential candidate for the presidency or even Khamenei’s successor, was unsuccessful in his attempts to meet with al-Sistani on a recent trip.
“This tension has increased with the Iranians, since His Eminence has not seen Raisi, but he will see His Holiness the Pope,” said the official.
Leaving aside politics and rivalries, almost everyone in Iraq’s multi-denominational fabric will have something to gain from the short encounter.
“I see the pope’s visit to Najaf as the culmination of a global movement in the Islamic-Christian tradition to promote security and peace in our country,” Iraq’s Minister of Culture, Hassan Nadhem, told the press recently. “Because we are still marked by trends in violence and intolerance.”
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Associated Press editor Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.