VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis he said he canceled travels during the pandemic because “in conscience I cannot provoke meetings”, but that the only thing that would prevent him from becoming the first pope to visit war-torn Iraq would be another outbreak of infections.
This is exactly what happened. An increase in coronavirus cases has prompted Iraqi authorities to impose blockades. Shiite officials have suspended religious pilgrimages. On Sunday, the Vatican ambassador himself contracted the virus and isolated himself. To be sure, suicide attacks, rocket attacks and geopolitical tensions have also increased.
But Francis, to the amazement of many, intends to go anyway. After more than a year trapped behind the walls of the Vatican, he will fly to Baghdad on Friday in one of the most virulent moments of the entire pandemic, sending a message that goes against almost all public health guidelines and potentially putting thousands of people at risk. Iraqis in danger.
“The day after tomorrow, God willing, I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage,” Francisco said on Wednesday in his weekly address to the faithful, just hours after a new flurry of rocket attacks. “I ask you to accompany this apostolic journey with prayer, so that it happens in the best possible way, that it bears the fruits that are expected. The Iraqi people are waiting for us ”.
Francis himself was vaccinated in mid-January and, although he was criticized for refusing to wear masks in private hearings, he asked rich countries to give vaccines to the poorest and called the refusal to vaccinate “suicidal”.
The pope’s entourage has also been vaccinated, but there is anxiety among supporters of the pope that a trip largely planned to bring peace and encouragement to Iraq’s suffering Christians has the potential to be an event of overcoming. The possibility, and a potential disaster, of the 84-year-old pope inadvertently putting an Iraqi population with virtually no access to vaccines at risk has not gone unnoticed by his allies in Rome.
“There is a concern that the Pope’s visit does not endanger people’s health, that is evident,” said Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest and close ally to Francisco. “There is an awareness of the problem.”
Even Francisco’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, expressed concern about the trip, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, an Italian newspaper, calling the trip important, but “dangerous”.
The Vatican insists that the trip from March 5 to 8 will be a safe, socially detached and sober visit, without the usual fanfare and celebrations. On Tuesday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni downplayed the number of cases in Iraq while addressing reporters who asked how the pope could justify not postponing a trip that could endanger so many. He also emphasized the relatively young age of many Iraqis and said the pope would travel in a closed car in order not to attract crowds.
“No more than a few hundred distant people” would be gathered to see him in order to minimize the risks, he said.
But Francis is planning a large mass with thousands of people at a football stadium in the Kurdish city of Erbil, and will likely draw crowds to see him pray in Qaraqosh, a city of Syriac Catholics, in the northern plains of Nineveh.
“There will be many people,” said Reverend Karam Qasha, a Catholic priest from northern Iraq, days before the trip, when registering participants for the Mass in Erbil. “Every day, someone calls me and asks me, ‘Dad, it’s also my dream to see the pope, can you put me among those who are going?'”
Although Father Qasha said that coronavirus cases appeared to be growing exponentially, he was not concerned because of the rules of social detachment and because many had already contracted the virus and cured themselves.
He said he had recovered from the virus and that his parishioners praying “all together” in the crowded churches resulted in a miracle. “The virus almost disappeared from my city,” he said.
Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, said in an interview that when it comes to the great masses and Francisco’s diplomatic meetings, “There is no risk to him, and also to the people”, because the detachment and mask-wearing measures would be observed. “I don’t think there will be a risk to anyone.”
Andrea Vicini, a doctor, Jesuit priest and professor of moral theology and bioethics at Boston College, admired the pope’s willingness to put his own skin on the line for peace when it came to promoting dialogue with Islam and protecting the persecuted and the people at the margins. He said that Francis was staying true to his Jesuit formation, traveling to the frontiers of the faith.
“He wants to show that he is ready to take a chance. The problem is that others will be at risk, “said Father Vicini, who,” as a doctor, “feared that the pope was increasing the potential to put people” in a situation of vulnerability. So he’s balancing it. “
Paolo Benanti, professor of ethics and bioethics at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, said the danger of the pope’s trip during a pandemic should be measured against the possibility of significantly improving the security situation for Christians and other Iraqis at the site.
“From an ethical point of view,” said Professor Benanti, the pope needed to balance the danger for Christians to stop visiting and highlight their situation with the “danger of the Covid-19 cases that spread from this type of trip. The greatest good for the health and well-being of people could be peace. “
What you need to know about the vaccine launch
Father Spadaro envisioned the possibility of concrete improvements for Christians as a result of Francis’ meeting with Shiite leaders. But most experts, including priests in Iraq, find it so far-fetched that it is fanciful.
“I don’t think anyone has the illusion that the problems will go away overnight,” said Rev. Joseph Cassar, the national director of the Jesuit Refugee Service and, until the pope and his entourage arrive, the only Jesuit priest in the country .
But he also said that travel restrictions, measures of social distance, the filling of just a fraction of the outdoor stadium in Erbil and the lack of access to the pope should prevent the widespread transmission of the virus.
“One of the things that is happening to people is that not everyone will be able to find the pope, which in a way is unfortunate,” he said. “But I also met a lot of people who are saying that even the fact that the pope sets foot in Iraq is tremendously encouraging. It is a great sign and demonstration of support on his part, especially as the numbers are decreasing. “
While the Vatican expects Iraqis to follow all rules of social detachment, Father Cassar noted that people in the country tend to be “disdainful” and “indifferent” to such rules, despite the increase in cases and the detection of new variants in Iraq.
On Sunday, the Chinese government said it would donate the country’s first 50,000 doses.
Francisco is not the first pope to try to go to Iraq. In 2000, Pope John Paul II intended to make a pilgrimage to Iraq, Egypt and Israel, with the first stop in the city of Ur, which tradition considers the birthplace of Abraham, father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But negotiations with Saddam Hussein’s government failed, leading João Paulo to “cry,” said Francisco.
Benedict XVI was invited by the Iraqi Prime Minister in 2008, but he had no chance to go due to the war.
“Having a third pope who is not going is a bad sign,” said Father Spadaro.
Travel security has also emerged as an issue after recent suicide bombings in Baghdad, rocket attacks on US-led coalition forces, including near Erbil airport, where the pope will arrive over the weekend, and retaliatory air strikes. from the Biden government.
Before the trip, Francisco said that even if those Iraqis saw him only on television, it would mean something because “they will see that the pope is there in his country”. He added: “I am the pastor of people who are suffering.”
“The best way to interpret this journey is as an act of love,” said Bruni on Tuesday, arguing that, by nature, love “can be interpreted as extreme.”