While a visit from the pope will no doubt provide a spiritual and psychological boost to Nineveh Christians, under the current pandemic conditions it is a prospect that must give local public health officials pause.

Vatican sources acknowledge the visit, which Pope Francis has long hoped for, is “risky” under current conditions.

Though the Christian communities around Erbil, like much of Iraq, were spared by the first wave of the pandemic, the numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths rose dramatically over the summer and appear now on the cusp of another significant acceleration.

An Iraqi archbishop who helped save hundreds of ancient manuscripts from being destroyed by Islamic State militants was among the nominees for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize.

Msgr. John E. Kozar, having completed nine years of service as head of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, is retiring from his post and reflects on his time as CNEWA head and on what he plans to do next.

Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Christians numbered around 1.5 million, but sectarian attacks on churches in Baghdad and other areas soon followed, and the population either headed north or left the country altogether.