Pope Francis holds historic meeting with powerful Shia Islam cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistan

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Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani today told Pope Francis that Iraq’s Christian citizens should live in ‘peace and security’ during a landmark meeting.  

The discussion, on the second day of the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, marked a significant moment in religious history as a dialogue was deepened between the two faiths. 

The pontiff, 84, met with the Grand Ayatollah in Najaf for an hour, with al-Sistani saying in a statement shortly afterwards that he ‘affirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with their full constitutional rights.’ 

The Christian population in Iraq has collapsed following years of persecution and sectarian violence, from 1.5 million in 2003 to fewer than 400,000 today.     

Pope Francis, who said he was travelling to the Gulf as a ‘pilgrim of peace’ on his first foreign trip since Covid-19 struck, was driven to the home of the Ayatollah in a bullet-proof vehicle on Saturday morning. 

Children had lined the streets and waved Iraqi and Vatican flags to mark his arrival. 

The private meeting was unusual for al-Sistani, 90, who rarely sees world leaders.     

Al-Sistani is one of the most influential figures in Shia Islam, and has previously refused to meet with Iraq’s current and former Prime Ministers.  

It is understood he agreed to speak with the Pope on the condition that no Iraqi officials would be present. 

The meeting took place inside al-Sistani’s home, which he has rented for decades in Najaf. 

Following the discussion, Pope Francis travelled to the ruins of Ur in southern Iraq, revered as the birthplace of Abraham, father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 

‘It all started from here,’ the pontiff said, after hearing from representatives of Iraq’s diverse religious communities.

There were Yazidis, whose ancestral heartland of Sinjar was ravaged by the Islamic State group in 2014, present alongside Mandeans, Kakais, Bahais and Zoroastrians.

Shiite and Sunni sheikhs, as well as Christian clerics, were also in attendance. 

Iraq is a Muslim-majority country of 40million whose Christian population has shrunk in the last two decades to just one per cent, with minorities still complaining of ostracism and persecution.   

During his address, Pope Francis said freedom of conscience and of religion were ‘fundamental rights’ that should be respected everywhere.

‘We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion,’ he said, in a message of solidarity with the minorities persecuted under IS rule.

He also made an impassioned plea for ‘unity’ after conflict.

‘Let us ask for this in praying for the whole Middle East. Here I think especially of neighbouring war-torn Syria,’ he said. 

Following the prayer service in Ur, Pope Francis is to head back to Baghdad to preside over a mass at the St. Joseph Cathedral. 

The Pope left Rome early on Friday for the four-day trip, his first abroad since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which left the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics saying he felt ‘caged’ inside the Vatican.

He yesterday made an impassioned call for peace, as he pleaded with his hosts for an ‘end to acts of violence and extremism, factions and intolerance.’ 

The pontiff urged religious faiths to ‘look beyond our differences’ in a country ravaged by ISIS that is home to one of the world’s most persecuted Christian communities.   

Delivering a message of hope to worshippers in Iraq, he paid tribute to the ‘age-old presence of Christians in this land, and their contributions to the life of the nation’. 

But he also reached out to Yazidis who were killed and tormented by ISIS, saying that ‘here, among so many who have suffered, my thoughts turn to the Yazidis, innocent victims of senseless and brutal atrocities’.  

‘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,’ he said, describing religious minorities as a ‘precious resource’ to be protected. 

He also urged Iraqi officials to ‘combat the scourge of corruption, misuse of power and disregard for law,’ in a country consistently ranked one of the most graft-tainted by global watchdogs.       

Pope Francis landed in the Gulf at 1.55pm on Friday, the plane flying the flags of both Vatican City and Iraq as it taxied on the tarmac at Baghdad International Airport, where Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi greeted him.

‘With love and peace, Iraq’s people and government are welcoming His Holiness Pope Francis and reaffirming the depths of this humanitarian bond,’ Kadhemi said ahead of the pope’s arrival.

Francis subsequently met Iraqi president Barham Salih and other authorities gathered at the Baghdad palace inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, telling them 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, in a country facing turmoil beset by both political violence and the effects of the pandemic.  

While Francis has been vaccinated, Iraq has been gripped by a second wave of infection with 5,000 plus new cases a day, prompting authorities to impose a full lockdown during the pontiff’s visit.

‘I’ll try to follow directions and not shake hands with everyone, but I don’t want to stay too far,’ Francis said ahead of his arrival.  

Security will be tight in Iraq, which has endured years of war and insurgency, is still hunting for Islamic State sleeper cells, and days ago saw a barrage of rockets plough into a military base.

Francis will preside over a half-dozen services in ravaged churches, refurbished stadiums and remote desert locations, where attendance will be limited to allow for social distancing. 

Inside the country, he will travel more than 870 miles by plane and helicopter, flying over areas where security forces are still battling IS remnants.

For shorter trips, Francis will take an armoured car on freshly paved roads that will be lined with flowers and posters welcoming the leader known here as ‘Baba Al-Vatican’.

The pope’s visit has deeply touched Iraq’s Christians, whose numbers have collapsed over years of persecution and sectarian violence, from 1.5 million in 2003 to fewer than 400,000 today.

‘We’re hoping the pope will explain to the government that it needs to help its people,’ a Christian from Iraq’s north, Saad al-Rassam, told AFP. ‘We have suffered so much, we need the support.’ 

Pope Francis is the first to visit Iraq, after Pope John Paul II had to cancel a trip in 2000 when talks with the Government of then-leader Saddam Hussein broke down.