Pope Francis Travels to Iraq to meet with Shi’a Leader
Pope Francis Speaks in Hall of Presidential Palace in Baghdad (Wikipedia)
Pope Francis sat for 40 minutes with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered cleric in Shi’a Islam, in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, on March 6. This marked the first time any head of the Roman Catholic Church has ever visited Iraq, home to one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. The riskiness of the visit was underscored by nation-wide curfews and 10,000 security personnel. Francis’ purpose was to assuage an embattled Christian population, which had dwindled from 1.25 million before the 2003 Gulf War to just 250,000 today. Although Shi’a Islam is seen as a minority within Islam, the religion dominates in Iran and Iraq. By sitting down with Sistani, Pope Francis highlighted the plight of Iraqi Christians.
The Pope’s visit began at the ancient site of Ur, the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham. The location, which holds significance among the two religious groups, symbolized the fight against extremism. Pope Francis, the self-described “Pilgrim of Peace,” declared, “Peace does not demand winners and losers, but rather brothers and sisters.” He highlighted pressures on local Christians who are mostly Chaldean but also include the Syriac, Armenian, and Byzantine rites.
“This was a message to Iraqi politicians to say ‘It’s enough. You cannot keep high pressure on the Christians.’ This needed to be said face to face,” according to local analyst Ahmed Rushdi. Francis, says Christopher Lamb, a journalist with The Tablet, a Catholic news service, selflessly prioritizes suffering Christian countries over his own safety.
The meeting with Sistani was media-free. The reported calls for unity and nonviolence made the event a true test of the power of words, especially from a Pope who has proven keen to expand Christian–Muslim dialogue. Naturally, as pointed out in the Washington Post, “(Some) Iraqis felt that, behind the day’s stagecraft, there were problems that hand-holding could not easily change.”
Both leaders, recognized advocates for oppressed minorities and democracy, have the authority to denounce religious extremism. Both are religious moderates under pressure from hard-liners within their own communities and from authoritarian politicians. Despite his influence and power, the reclusive Iraqi cleric is relatively obscure. He remains opposed to Iran’s Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists, its philosophical justification for theocratic rule. He has consistently encouraged Iraq’s transition to constitutional democracy despite its difficulties and supports youth protests against government corruption. Sistani issued the June 2014 fatwa that spurred Shi’ite militias to join the army’s war against ISIS. Various parties, including Iraqi Christians, have nominated him in the past for the Nobel Peace Prize. His deliberate reservation causes Shi’ites around the world to take note whenever he expresses his opinions on controversial issues. As a result, much optimism surrounded his reported assurance to the Pope that “Christians should be able to live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis.”
84-year-old Francis’s power has limits. Or, as some critics suggest, some pronouncements aimed at restraining other Shi’a clerics and extremist militias may not have been as robust as the world had hoped. His reticence may also be seen as Francis hedging his bets. It is not unnoticed that a variety of his decrees, like the war on ISIS, or his role in ejecting a prime minister, benefitted Iran.
It is fair to question whether the Pope’s purpose was religiously or politically motivated. “It was a religious action to put forth political pressure,” said Rushdi. Most analysts agree the core strategy was to underscore the little change in the past 17 years in resolving extremist violence and prompting Sistani to take action, such as clamping down harder on certain militia groups. For example, attacks on Christians accelerated in 2014 through a revamped Sunni ISIS movement, one that Shi’a militias were essential in defeating. Christians, though, remain wary of returning to newly ISIS-free cities, in part due to harassment by extremist militiamen. As Iraqi priests point out, the problem for Christians in Iraq runs deeper than the battle against extremism. “A lot of people here do not see Christianity as a true religion,” claims Father Karam Shamasha.
Baghdad, for example, is trying to restrain the most violent militias, many of which are used as proxies by Tehran to influence its neighbor and pressure U.S. interests. The March 6 meeting is unlikely to create much immediate change.