Pope Francis began his most dangerous foreign tour on Friday, flying into Iraq amid the toughest security ever seen for a papal expedition to appeal to the country’s leaders and people to end violence militarism and religious strife.
The country has deployed thousands of security guards to protect it during the voyage, which comes in the wake of several rocket and suicide bomb attacks and a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Even before he landed, Francis told reporters on his plane that he felt obliged to embark on an “emblematic” journey despite the difficulties as the country had been “killed”. for so many years ”.
At the official reception in the primary school palace, 84-year-old Francis, leaping from what appeared to be a new flame of his tragic sciatica, made an urgent call for Iraq finally give peacemakers a chance.
“The military will be kept quiet … acts of violence and terrorism may end,” he said.