The 45-minute papal meeting in the holy city of Najaf with 90-year-old al-Sistani – who rarely appears in public – represented one of the most significant summits between a pope and a leading Shi’ite Muslim figure in recent years.
During the meeting, broadcast on state television al-Iraqiya, al-Sistani thanked Francis for making an effort to travel to Najaf and told him that Christians in Iraq should live “like all Iraqis in safety and peace, and with everyone their constitutional rights, “according to a statement released by the office of the Grand Ayatollah.
The Pope, for his part, thanked al-Sistani and the Shiite Muslim community for “[raising] his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted, affirming the sacredness of human life and the importance of the unity of the Iraqi people ”, states a statement from the Sea of Holly.
The Pope also stressed the importance of collaboration and friendship between religious communities.
After Najaf, the Pope traveled to Nasiriya, where he held an interfaith meeting on the plain of Ur, considered Abraham’s birthplace.
In Ur, the Pope spoke about the violence that has plagued Iraq in recent years. “All of your ethnic and religious communities have suffered. In particular, I would like to mention the Yazidi community, which has mourned the deaths of many men and witnessed thousands of abducted women, girls and children, sold as slaves, subjected to physical violence and forced conversions, “he said.
In his speech, Francis also praised the recovery efforts in northern Iraq, where ISIS terrorists destroyed historic sites, churches, monasteries and other places of worship. “I think of the young Muslim volunteers in Mosul, who helped to repair churches and monasteries, building fraternal friendships over the rubble of hatred, and the Christians and Muslims who are today restoring mosques and churches together,” he said.
The pope landed in Baghdad on Friday, where he was received by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Later, Francisco met with clergy and other officials at a Baghdad church that was the site of a bloody massacre in 2010.
Iraq imposed a full curfew throughout the four-day papal visit to minimize health and safety risks. Francis is due to leave Iraq on Monday.
Francis has met with the great Sunni cleric Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb on several occasions in the past, co-signing a 2019 document that promised “human brotherhood” among world religions.
CNN’s Tamara Qiblawi, Delia Gallagher and Aqeel Najm contributed to this article.