SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Pope Francis said on Wednesday he is going to Iraq because “the people cannot be let down for a second time”, after his predecessor John Paul was not allowed to go in 2000.
Francis, who is to visit Iraq on Friday, asked for prayers so that the visit “can take place in the best possibly way and bring about desired fruits”, according to Reuters.
He made no mention of security problems in Iraq, where earlier on Wednesday at least 10 rockets landed on an air base that hosts United States, coalition and Iraqi forces.
“The day after tomorrow, God willing, I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage. For a long time I have wanted to meet these people who have suffered so much,” the 84-year-old Francis said in his weekly Wednesday address, AFP reported.
“The Iraqi people are waiting for us, they were waiting for Saint John Paul II, who was forbidden to go. One cannot disappoint a people for the second time. Let us pray that this journey will be successful,” he added.
The trip by the 84-year-old leader of the world’s Catholics was announced in December, and will take in the capital Baghdad, as well as Ur, a city linked to the Old Testament figure of Abraham, and Erbil, Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Nineveh.
At least 10 rockets slammed into Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq hosting U.S.-led Coalition troops earlier on Wednesday, according to Coalition spokesman Col. Wayne Marroto.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Francis said the pope would be travelling by armored vehicle and that he would not be meeting crowds.
“This is a particular situation, that’s why the transports will all be in a closed vehicle, meaning it will be complicated to see the pope on the streets,” AFP quoted spokesman Matteo Brunei as saying.
“There will be a number of meetings but none will be more than a few hundred people,” he added.
