An interview with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, on Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq and what’s next for Vatican diplomacy in the Middle East.
Pope Francis in Iraq
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Read: Pope Francis on finding hope in the people of Iraq
In his first general audience since returning from Iraq, Pope Francis said: “ I saw around me the joy of welcoming Christ’s messenger; I saw the hope of being open to a horizon of peace and fraternity.”
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Podcast: In Iraq with Pope Francis
Fresh off the papal visit to Iraq, Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell joins host Colleen Dulle on “Inside the Vatican” to discuss what it was like to travel with the pope on his riskiest trip yet.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis says Iraq trip brought him ‘back to life’ after a year in Covid prison
In an hour-long press conference on the plane to Rome, Francis spoke about how he felt he had “come back to life again” during the visit, after more than a year in “prison” when he could not meet people.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
‘Peace more powerful than war’: Pope Francis ends his Iraq trip in the land once ruled by ISIS
Pope Francis concluded his three-day trip to Iraq with a stadium Mass in which he said the country “will always remain with me, in my heart.” America’s Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, reports.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Read: Pope Francis’ homily on the final day of his historic Iraq visit
On the final day of his historic trip to Iraq, Pope Francis said, “To cleanse our hearts, we need to dirty our hands, to feel accountable and not to simply look on as our brothers and sisters are suffering.”
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis makes history by meeting Ayatollah al-Sistani, spiritual leader of Iraqi Shia Muslims
On the second day of his trip to Iraq, Pope Francis met with a Shia Muslim leader in Najaf and delivered a message of religious unity in the ancient community of Ur. Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reports.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Read: Pope Francis’ prayer for the children of Abraham
Pope Francis’ prayer at the interreligious meeting at Ur, Iraq on Saturday, March 6.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Interview: How Pope Francis is transforming Catholic-Muslim relations
While churches and mosques have been built for centuries in close proximity to each other, the relationship between those who worship God inside these sacred houses of prayer has not always been as close.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
On his first day in Iraq, Pope Francis encouraged its leaders to embrace its religious and ethnic diversity
Defying the pandemic and the security risks, Pope Francis finally stepped onto Iraqi soil at Baghdad international airport at 12:45 p.m. on March 5, realizing a visit that he had desired from the beginning of his pontificate and that had evaded his predecessors.