The meeting between Francis, the global leader of the Catholic Church, and al-Sistani, the highest religious authority of Iraqi Shi'ism, is due to take place in the city of Najaf.

The pope will also visit the cities Baghdad, Mosul and Ur on the visit scheduled for March 5-8.

The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Cardinal Louis-Raphael Sako, said the meeting with Sistani would be a ‘private visit' between the two religious figures ‘without formalities'.

Sako said he hoped the two figures would sign the document on "human fraternity for world peace", an interreligious text condemning "extremism". Pope Francis signed the document with the leading Sunni scholar, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, in 2019.

Iraq once counted more than 1.5 million Christians, but the community has been ravaged by successive conflicts. Now, an estimated 400,000 Christians remain in Iraq.

Many Christians have expressed hope that the pope's visit will highlight the challenges facing the community, including prolonged displacement and little representation in government.

In addition to meeting with al-Sistani, Pope Francis will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi, before going to the Presidential Palace and meeting with the country's President Barham Salih.

Other events scheduled during the Papal visit include:
• visiting the Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad, where 48 Christians were killed by terrorists in 2010
• celebrating Mass in the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph's in Baghdad
• participating in an interfaith meeting near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur
• presiding at a "prayer of suffrage for the victims of the war" in Mosul
• offering Mass in the Franso Hariri Stadium, Erbil, which can accommodate nearly 28,000 people.

Pope Francis will return to Rome on the morning of Mar 8. And, as has become custom, it is expected that he will hold a press conference with journalists accompanying him on the papal plane.

Sources

Aljazeera

La Croix International

The international pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need and Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Rafael Sako of Iraq appealed to all people of good will to join in.

A statement from Aid to the Church in Need described the Transfiguration as holding out a "sign of hope for humanity".

"It is a source of courage when obstacles appear impossible to surmount; a sign that light is stronger than darkness; and testimony that death can turn into life."

The statement continued that the global day of prayer for peace is meant to be observed in churches and homes across the US.

"The Global Day of Prayer in the midst of so much suffering in Iraq—particularly for the ancient Christian community of Mosul—tells the world at large that US Christians have not forgotten and abandoned their suffering brothers and sisters," the statement added.

Meanwhile, a resolution has been introduced into the United States Congress aimed at protecting persecuted Christians and other minorities in Iraq.

ISIS militants took control of Mosul in June, and later issued an ultimatum to Christians in the city insisting they convert to Islam, pay a tax, or be killed.

Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities fled the city, seeking refuge in villages in the Ninevah Plains and Kurdestan.

"We are witnessing an ongoing crime against humanity," Congressman Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska said in introducing the resolution.

Currently, the bi-partisan resolution has more than 50 co-sponsors.

If passed, the resolution would call on Congress, the US president and secretary of state, and the UN Security Council, to consider "an urgent international humanitarian intervention to speed assistance to communities facing ferocious ethnic and religious cleansing," Fortenberry explained.

The US Catholic bishops have urged their government to assist Iraqi Christian victims of persecution from ISIS miliants, while France has offered asylum to Iraqi Christians who have fled Mosul.

Sources

• Aid to the Church in Need
• Catholic News Agency
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Terrasanta

Francis Campbell, who served in Rome from 2005 to 2011, said he was deeply disturbed by the West's indifference to the events in Mosul.

The extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) gave Mosul Christians an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay an exorbitant tax or die, by noon, July 19.

"It's reminiscent of what we saw in Europe in the build-up to the Second World War or the ethnic cleansing witnessed [in] the Balkans in the early 1990s, where there is an attempt to systematically wipe out an entire civilisation and culture," Mr Campbell said.

ISIS members marked the homes of Christian families throughout Mosul with the Arabic letter "N", standing for "Nazarene".

The Sunni militants burned an 1800-year-old church to the ground and ordered church bells to be silent.

Last Sunday, Mass was not celebrated in the city for the first time in 1600 years, as an estimated 10,000 Christians left Mosul.

Mr Campbell noted that UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon had said the purge of Christians in Mosul was "likely a crime against humanity".

The US State Department and the UN Security Council have also denounced the ISIS actions.

But days after the ultimatum deadline had passed, neither the British Prime Minister nor the European Union had spoken out, Mr Campbell said.

Pope Francis has expressed his deep concern over these events and has assured all Christians of the Middle East of his "constant prayers".

Patriarch Louis Sako, the Chaldean Archbishop of Baghdad, said any dialogue with the extremists seemed impossible.

The militants are like "a wall" as they only repeat: "Between us there is nothing but a sword", the patriarch said.

Patriarch Sako said that as late as the end of June, 35,000 Christians had lived in Mosul, and more than 60,000 lived there before the US-led invasion in 2003.

"Iraq is heading towards a humanitarian, cultural and historical disaster," he said in an open letter to Iraqis and the world last week.

ISIS seeks to create an Islamic caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria.

The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation has condemned their actions in Mosul.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• National Catholic Reporter
• Voice of America
• Image: KR Magazine