Iraq Is Getting Ready for the Pope With ‘Happy Vibes’

Pope Francis is set to pay a historic visit to Iraq, a bold choice of a first overseas trip for the head of the Catholic Church since the COVID pandemic began.

The Vatican says the pope, who has received both his vaccine shots, wants to convey a message of "hope” and "encouragement" for Iraqis who in recent years have witnessed an overwhelming level of violence, including the targeting of ethnic and religious minorities such as Yazidis and Christians by ISIS. 

Such atrocities still weigh heavily on the Iraqi people. The country remains stuck in the middle of a proxy war being fought between the U.S. and Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militias.

Arriving in Baghdad on March 5, Pope Francis' four-day country-wide trip is likely to put Iraqi security services through their paces. 

In Baghdad, government and other official buildings, the most likely targets for suicide bombings, are surrounded by blast walls. In preparation for the pontiff, the Syriac Catholic Church's blast walls in Baghdad have been repainted with the murals of the pope greeting the Iraqi flag and a series of national landmarks and cultural icons.

While he will mainly conduct private visits to state and religious figures like Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest Shia Muslim figure in the country, the pontiff is also expected to hold masses in Mosul, Baghdad and Erbil.

"He will visit Baghdad, the plain of Ur, linked to the memory of Abraham, the city of Erbil, as well as Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Nineveh,” said a statement released by the Vatican.

The visit to Ur – a breathtaking Mesopotamian site that was supposedly the birthplace of Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam – will be among the standout items of the pope’s itinerary.

Prior to the US-led invasion in 2003, Iraq had a thriving Christian community of one million, but that has now dwindled to around 400,000 due to the deteriorating security situation that has seen ethnic and religious minorities caught in the crossfires of a succession of sectarian conflicts. Iraqis who are rushing to give the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion people a deserved reception say the pope’s impending visit is already bringing "happy vibes" to the country.

Many Iraqi Muslims who spoke to VICE World News said the pope's visit was welcome amid hard times for a nation hit by an extreme economic downturn.

"I've painted all over the country, but this project was a bit different from what we drew on these walls back in 2017, the colours were much darker, and it was the times of displacement and sad situation for all Iraqis, but we used much lighter and happier colours this time," Amjad Mohsen, 29, an artist who is repainting the blast walls around Baghdad's Syriac church, said over the phone.

"The latest subjects were mostly around the pandemic, and the economic hardship, a fear of the future, which has taken a toll on all of us in Iraq. I think the Pope visiting Iraq will bring a sense of hope and much-needed unity to help each other to get back on our feet, despite the unpleasant memories." 

The Syriac Church had to put up its own blast walls after the Baghdad church massacre of 2010, when 58 people, including worshipers and the priest, were killed in an attack carried out by an early incarnation of the Islamic State.

The militants took the worshippers hostage demanding a prisoner exchange, but within hours, the Iraqi armed forces failed to deescalate the situation, and stormed into the building leaving more dead bodies behind than they were meant to rescue after the militants detonated suicide belts, and turned the church to a bloodbath.

The pope will hold prayers in multiple churches for the victims of ISIS in Mosul, and the 58 people killed in the Baghdad massacre.