The message behind the Pope's trip to Iraq

His Holiness has prioritised interfaith fraternity and solidarity with those in need during his trip to Iraq

Pope Francis made visiting Iraq a top priority. AFP PHOTO / HO / VATICAN MEDIA

While in Baghdad in 2010, I experienced the aftermath of an extremist attack on the city's Our Lady of Salvation church. Witnessing the remnants of the 58 innocent people killed and blown up by ISIS extremists, I felt intense sadness and disbelief at the fact that someone could blow themselves up to kill others, solely because they have a different religion.
Now, 11 years later, Pope Francis is visiting this site of religious persecution, with a message of peace and hope for the wounded people of Iraq and the Middle East. The trip is a new stone in the edifice of human fraternity, for which the Pope has worked tirelessly throughout his life.
The visit marks his first foreign trip since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the first papal trip in history to Iraq. I think that His Holiness prioritised this visit to the Middle East for three reasons.
First, he is giving this distressed region a special place in his heart and wants to convey the voices of its people to the whole world. The Pope wants to send a positive message that the most dangerous pandemic of all is to neglect those who are suffering – whether at the personal or state level.

Second, he intends to send a message of reassurance to those who find themselves forced to leave their homelands and emigrate in pursuit of security, freedom and justice.
Third, to affirm that we are all brothers in humanity and to invite everyone to the "word of fraternity", in order to overcome the mistakes of the past and build the future together.
Human fraternity is the most important issue that His Holiness Pope Francis is working on. In 2019, I accompanied him on his historic visit to the UAE, where he signed the Document on Human Fraternity with Grand Imam Ahmed Al Tayyeb of Egypt's Al Azhar. The joint statement urges the reconciliation of all people in the service of universal peace.
This weekend, Pope Francis attended an interfaith meeting in Ur, the biblical location of the birthplace of Abraham. The event in itself is a message of fraternity, showing us that we all descend from the same father and believe in God, who called his Prophet Abraham and his descendants to worship Him alone and live as brothers among themselves.
In renewing and reviving this message, the Pope's mission can be summarised in just four words, "you are all brothers", the motto of the trip, affirming that what unites us is much greater than what separates us.

I have great love for Iraq and its people. I hope that the Pope’s visit will represent a spark of hope for a new dawn, in which Iraq returns to the regional and international position it deserves.

Monsignor Yoannis Lahzi Gaid is a member of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity and previously served as the personal secretary to Pope Francis until 2020.