BAGHDAD (AP) – In the holiest city in Iraq, a pontiff will meet a revered ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions.
One is the chief pastor of the Catholic Church worldwide, the other a preeminent figure in Shiite Islam, whose opinion has a strong influence on the Iraqi street and beyond. Their meeting will resonate in Iraq, crossing even the borders to neighboring Iran, mainly Shiites.
Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani will meet on Saturday for a maximum of 40 minutes, only part of the time, except for the interpreters, in the modest house of the Shiite cleric in the city of Najaf. Every detail was examined in time in meticulous, behind-the-scenes preparations that touched everything from shoes to seat arrangements.
Geopolitical subtleties weigh heavily on the meeting, along with twin threats over a viral pandemic and ongoing tensions with groups of rocket-backed Iranians.
For Iraq’s declining Christian minority, a show of solidarity from al-Sistani could help secure their place in Iraq after years of dislocation – and, he hopes, eases the intimidation of militias and against their community.
Iraqi government officials also see the symbolic power of the meeting – as does Tehran.
Al-Sistani, 90, was a constant counterweight to Iran’s influence. With the meeting, Francis implicitly recognizes him as the main interlocutor of Shiite Islam over his rival, the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. The news of the meeting heightened long-standing rivalries between Shiite seminaries in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom, over which the center of the Shiite world is located.
“It will be an unprecedented private visit in history and will not be equal to any previous visit,” said a religious official in Najaf involved in the planning.
For the Vatican, it was a meeting that had been going on for decades, one that eluded Francis’ predecessors.
“Najaf did not make it easy,” said a Christian religious official close to the Vatican’s planning, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the visit.
In December, Louis Sako, the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, told the Associated Press that the church was trying to schedule a meeting between Francis and the ayatollah. It was included in the first version of the program, “but when the (Vatican) delegation visited Najaf, there were problems,” he said, without elaborating.
The church continues to insist.
“We know the importance and impact of Najaf in the Iraqi situation,” Sako said. What value would the pope’s message of coexistence in Iraq have, they determined, if he did not seek the support of his most powerful and respected religious figure?
Sako finally confirmed the January meeting, a few weeks after the pontiff’s itinerary was assembled.
Al-Sistani is rarely of major importance in matters of governance. When he did, he changed the course of Iraq’s modern history.
His edict gave many Iraqis reasons to run in the January 2005 elections, the first since the US-led invasion in 2003. His 2014 fatwa, which called on men capable of fighting the Islamic State group, massively inflated militia ranks. look. In 2019, while anti-government demonstrations swept the country, his sermon led to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
The Vatican’s hope was that Francis would sign a document with al-Sistani promising human brotherhood, as he had with the influential imam of Sunni Islam al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, based in Egypt.
The signature was among the many elements that the two sides negotiated extensively. Finally, Shiite religious officials in Najaf told the AP that a signature was not on the agenda, and al-Sistani would issue a verbal statement.
Every minute of Saturday’s meeting will be as meticulous as a play.
The 84-year-old convoy of the pontiff will pass along the crowded street of the Najaf column, Rasool, which culminates at the Imam Ali Altar, one of the most revered places in the world for Shiites.
On the side is an alley too narrow for cars. Here, Francis will walk the 30 meters to the modest house of Al-Sistani, which the clergyman has rented for decades. Al-Sistani’s influential son, Mohammed Ridha, will be waiting for him at the entrance.
Inside and a few steps to the right, the pontiff will come face to face with the ayatollah.
Everyone will make a simple gesture of mutual respect.
Francis will take off his shoes before entering al-Sistani’s room.
Al-Sistani, who normally stays seated for visitors, will sit to greet Francis at the door and lead him to a blue L-shaped sofa, inviting him to take a seat.
“This has not happened before by His Eminence with any guest,” said a Najaf religious official.
He will stay in spite of his fragile health, religious officials said. Since he fractured his thigh last year, the clergyman has been firmly locked inside. Francis suffers from sciatica.
The pope will be offered tea.
“His Holiness will offer His Holiness a message of peace and love for all mankind,” the official said.
Gifts will be exchanged.
It is not clear what Najaf will grant, but Francis will certainly present to Al-Sistani related copies of his most important writings, including the most recent encyclical “All Brothers,” on the need for greater brotherhood among all peoples in order to achieve a more peaceful, ecologically sustainable and just world.
So far, papal plans to visit Iraq have failed.
The late Pope John Paul II was unable to leave in 2000, when negotiations with the government of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein broke down.
One failure after another almost collapsed him as well.
Iraq fell to a second wave of coronavirus last month, spurred on by the new, more infectious strain that first broke out in Britain. At the same time, a series of rocket attacks resumed targeting the presence of Americans in the country. The United States has blamed militias aligned with Iran.
The same groups, strengthened by al-Sistani’s fatwa, are accused of terrorizing Christians and preventing them from returning home. The Iraqi government and religious officials are worried that these militias could carry out rocket attacks in Baghdad or elsewhere to show their dissatisfaction with al-Sistani’s meeting with Francis.
As pope, Francis stands at the top of an official hierarchy that governs the Catholic Church. Al-Sistani’s position is more informal, based on tradition and reputation. He is considered one of the most prestigious Shiite religious scholars in the world, the main light at Najaf seminaries, earning him worldwide reverence.
Iranian seminaries Khamenei and Qom compete for this prestige. Al-Sistani’s school of thought opposes direct rule by clerics, the existing system in Iran, where Hamenei has the final say in all matters.
“The visit could upset some people and they could try to delay or cancel the visit, I have this concern,” a second Najaf official said. “Who could be upset? Qom’s Hawza, “he said, using the Arabic term for seminars.
Iran’s chief justice Ebrahim Raisi, considered a potential presidential candidate or even Khamenei’s successor, failed in his attempts to meet with al-Sistani on a recent trip.
“This tension has increased with the Iranians, because His Holiness has not seen Raisi, but will see His Holiness the Pope,” the official said.
Apart from politics and rivalries, almost everyone in Iraq’s multi-faith fabric will have something to gain from the short meeting.
“I see the pope’s visit to Najaf as the culmination of a global movement in the Islamic-Christian tradition to promote security and peace in our country,” Iraqi Culture Minister Hassan Nadhem told reporters recently. “Because we are still tempted by tendencies towards violence and intolerance.”
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Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield of Rome contributed to the report.