Pope Francis held a historic meeting with a senior Shiite cleric in Iraq on Saturday, calling for greater unity between the faithful visits to Abraham’s birthplace, as part of his whirlwind tour of the Middle East.
Francis, 84, met Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, 90, at his home in the holy city of Najaf in central Iraq, where the two elderly men of faith provided an extremely symbolic moment of tolerance for a country that by sectarianism and violence.
“Religious and spiritual leadership must play a major role in stopping the tragedy,” Sistani, the spiritual leader of millions of Shiite Muslims, said in a statement after the meeting.
He also insisted on ‘wisdom’ to rule and ‘eradicate the language of war’.
The pope met for 45 minutes with the ascetic and somewhat withdrawn spiritual figure at Sistani’s humble home, along a narrow street near the Imam Ali shrine with golden domes.
In an official photo of the Vatican, Sistani is seen in his traditional black Shiite robe and turban across from Francis in his white box.
With an almost mythical figure among millions of followers, Sistani rarely appears in public, but he enters critical times in the history of Iraq. His missions sent Iraqis to free polls for the first time in 2005, gathering hundreds of thousands to fight ISIS in 2014.
“The Holy Father emphasized the importance of cooperation and friendship between religious communities,” the Vatican said in a statement following the visit.
The meeting was an opportunity for the pope to ‘thank’ Sistani who, during the violence of the past year, ‘raised his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted’.
After the meeting, Francis travels to the desert plain of Ur in southern Iraq, and is honored as the birthplace of Abraham – the patriarch of monotheism and a unifying prophet in Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
Francis praised young Muslims for helping Christians restore their churches, and in his speech emphasized the importance of coexistence and brotherhood.
“Let us from this place, where the faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, confirm that God is merciful,” he said. “Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart; they are betrayals of religion,” he added.
As the desert wind blows, Francis sits with Muslim, Christian and Yazidi leaders and speaks within the eye of the ancient archaeological ruins of the 4000-year-old city.
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The pope’s journey, which began on Friday, lasts four days. It comes amid a second spate of coronavirus attacks in Iraq and a spate of rocket attacks, while a bitter conflict between the US and Iran is taking place on Iraqi soil.
Greeted with white doves, folk dances, a guard of honor and colorful street graffiti, Francis’ visit promotes national pride and provides a rare opportunity for Iraqis to be at the center of a positive news story. The oil-rich country is still struggling after the US-led invasion in 2003 plunged it into chaos.
Francis said he also undertook the journey to show solidarity with the Iraqi Christian community – one of the oldest in the world – which has dropped to about 300,000 from about 1.5 million 20 years ago.
“I am more than happy for the pope’s visit,” Iraqi Christian Feras Ramzi, 46, told NBC News. “This is a message from the Vatican that he will not forget his sons and daughters in Iraq.”
Mr. Christian Fadi Slewa, 39, a chef in Baghdad, also welcomed the visit.
“The pope has come to Iraq to offer peace,” he said. “Peace is the language that all Iraqis should speak, no matter if they are Christians, Muslims or other religions.”
Francis is expected to fly back to Baghdad later Saturday, and he is expected to hold mass at a central cathedral. He will then travel north on Sunday to Mosul, a former stronghold of the Islamic State.
Iraqi President Barham Salih thanked Francis for the very first papal visit to Iraq, despite a call for him to postpone the trip.
“Iraq has been through difficult times,” Salih told NBC News on Friday. “He came to help us achieve a better day.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
Richard Engel and Saphora Smith contributed.