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Pope’s Upcoming Iraq Visit A Security Nightmar<\/strong>e, Includes Mosul & Other
\nFormer ISIS Enclaves<\/h1>\nZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n
Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Iraq is being widely considered\u00a0a security nightmare<\/strong>\u00a0as both his own Vatican protection\u00a0service and local police and military officials scramble to ensure nothing goes wrong. The visit scheduled for\u00a0March 5-8 will mark the first time a Roman Pontiff will visit Iraq<\/strong>.<\/p>\nMost foreign dignitaries who arrive in Baghdad do so under secrecy, with their official visits published typically only upon arrival or after, and with meetings with officials going on behind the safety of the high-secure ‘Green Zone’. Needless to say terrorism is the prime concern given his international status, and also as a high profile Christian figure in a Muslim majority land that’s been racked with sectarian strife.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/francisiraq.jpg?itok=nnv6ITxk\")
Via\u00a0CNS\/Reuters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHowever,\u00a0the Pope’s itinerary has already been published<\/strong>, which will include\u00a0“a four-day journey that will have him criss-cross the country and reinforce the historic and natural place of Christians in Iraq and the Arab world,”<\/strong>\u00a0according to one Mideast media source cited in\u00a0FOX<\/a>. The Vatican has also described it as a “bridge building effort” to the Muslim world at a time the entire region is reeling from ISIS and prior US regime change and occupation in Iraq.<\/p>\nThe 84-year old leader of the Catholic church\u00a0plans to visit the northern city of Mosu<\/strong>l – the very place from which ISIS previously declared its ‘caliphate’ in 2014 – which also saw dozens of churches and Christians sites desecrated and blown up, including the deaths and displacement of thousands of Christians. As Fox News explains\u00a0of the Mosul visit<\/a>:<\/p>\nHe will visit Our Lady of Salvation church, which was hit by six suicide bombers in 2010.\u00a0He will visit Mosul, which ISIS took over in 2014 and held until 2017 and where the terror organization wrought devastation<\/strong>, destroying or damaging among other valued property, a cluster of churches \u2013 Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Chaldean Catholic \u2013 locally known as Church Square. ISIS used the property for trying people, jailing them and for administrative work.<\/p>\nThe pope will visit what is left of the compound, and the symbolism will be powerful. Father Raed Adel is the last priest living in Mosul.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/popeiraq1.jpg?itok=HmViV4_W\")
Via Vatican media\/Reuters<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdding to security fears is that cities across the country have witnessed\u00a0continued major bomb attacks<\/strong>, including a January twin suicide attack on busy market places in Baghdad this past January which killed over 30 people.<\/p>\nThere’s also the continuing coronavirus pandemic, for which both the Pope and all journalists traveling with him have had to be vaccinated.\u00a0Pope Francis has so far appeared to shrug off the pressing security concerns, saying,\u00a0“I am pastor of people who are suffering.”<\/p>\n
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Most foreign dignitaries who arrive in Baghdad do so under secrecy, with their official visits published typically only upon arrival or after, and with meetings with officials going on behind the safety of the high-secure ‘Green Zone’. Needless to say terrorism is the prime concern given his international status, and also as a high profile Christian figure in a Muslim majority land that’s been racked with sectarian strife.<\/p>\n However,\u00a0the Pope’s itinerary has already been published<\/strong>, which will include\u00a0“a four-day journey that will have him criss-cross the country and reinforce the historic and natural place of Christians in Iraq and the Arab world,”<\/strong>\u00a0according to one Mideast media source cited in\u00a0FOX<\/a>. The Vatican has also described it as a “bridge building effort” to the Muslim world at a time the entire region is reeling from ISIS and prior US regime change and occupation in Iraq.<\/p>\n The 84-year old leader of the Catholic church\u00a0plans to visit the northern city of Mosu<\/strong>l – the very place from which ISIS previously declared its ‘caliphate’ in 2014 – which also saw dozens of churches and Christians sites desecrated and blown up, including the deaths and displacement of thousands of Christians. As Fox News explains\u00a0of the Mosul visit<\/a>:<\/p>\n He will visit Our Lady of Salvation church, which was hit by six suicide bombers in 2010.\u00a0He will visit Mosul, which ISIS took over in 2014 and held until 2017 and where the terror organization wrought devastation<\/strong>, destroying or damaging among other valued property, a cluster of churches \u2013 Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Chaldean Catholic \u2013 locally known as Church Square. ISIS used the property for trying people, jailing them and for administrative work.<\/p>\n The pope will visit what is left of the compound, and the symbolism will be powerful. Father Raed Adel is the last priest living in Mosul.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Adding to security fears is that cities across the country have witnessed\u00a0continued major bomb attacks<\/strong>, including a January twin suicide attack on busy market places in Baghdad this past January which killed over 30 people.<\/p>\n There’s also the continuing coronavirus pandemic, for which both the Pope and all journalists traveling with him have had to be vaccinated.\u00a0Pope Francis has so far appeared to shrug off the pressing security concerns, saying,\u00a0“I am pastor of people who are suffering.”<\/p>\n