BAGHDAD (AP) – In the holiest city in Iraq, a pontiff will meet with a revered ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions.
One is the main pastor of the world Catholic Church, the other is a preeminent figure of Shiite Islam whose opinion is powerful on the Iraqi street and beyond. Their meeting will resonate in Iraq, even crossing borders into neighboring Iran, mostly 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 interpreters, at the modest house of the Shiite cleric in the city of Najaf. All the details were examined in advance in meticulous behind-the-scenes preparations that touched on everything from shoes to seat arrangements.
Geopolitical nuances weigh heavily on the meeting, along with twin threats of a viral pandemic and ongoing tensions with Iranian-backed rogue groups firing rockets.
For Iraq’s declining Christian minority, a show of al-Sistani solidarity could help secure its place in Iraq after years of displacement – and, hopefully, alleviate the intimidation of Shiite militias against the your community.
Iraqi government officials also see the symbolic power of the meeting, as does Tehran.
Al-Sistani, 90, has been a constant counterweight to Iran’s influence. With the meeting, Francis implicitly recognizes him as the main interlocutor of Shiite Islam over his rival, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. News of the meeting heightened long-running rivalries between Shiite seminaries in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom, which is at the center of the Shiite world.
“It will be an unprecedented private visit in history and will not have a visit equal to any previous one,” said a Najaf religious official involved in the planning.
For the Vatican, it was a meeting decades in progress, which shunned Francis’ predecessors.
“Najaf did not make it easy,” said a Christian religious officer close to the planning from the Vatican side, who spoke 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 draft of the program, “but when the (Vatican) delegation visited Najaf, there were problems,” he said, without detailing it.
The church kept insisting.
“We know the importance and impact of Najaf on 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 meeting in January, weeks after the pontiff’s itinerary meeting.
Rarely does al-Sistani weigh in on governance issues. When he did, he changed the course of modern Iraq history.
An edict of his provided many Iraqis with reasons to run in the January 2005 elections, the first since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. His 2014 fatwa called for men capable of fighting the state group. Islamic massively increased the ranks of Shiite militias. In 2019, as anti-government demonstrations took over 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 that promised human brotherhood, as he did with the influential Grand Imam al-Azhar of Sunni Islam, Ahmed el-Tayeb, based in Egypt.
The signing was among many elements that the two sides negotiated extensively. In the end, Shiite religious officials in Najaf told the AP that there was no signature on the agenda and al-Sistani will issue a verbal statement.
It’s likely that every minute of Saturday’s meeting unfolds as meticulously as a scripted play.
The 84-year-old pontiff’s convoy will stop along Najaf’s bustling Rasool Street, which culminates in the Imam Ali shrine, one of the world’s most revered places for Shiites.
Next to it 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, waits for him to greet him at the entrance.
Inside, and a few steps to the right, the pontiff will meet face to face with the ayatollah.
Everyone will make a simple gesture of mutual respect.
Francis took off his shoes before entering al-Sistani’s room.
Al-Sistani, who normally sits for visitors, will stand to greet Francis at the door and lead him to a blue L-shaped sofa, inviting him to sit down.
“This has not happened before for His Eminence with any guest,” a Najaf religious official said.
He will stand up despite his frail health, religious officials said. Since the thigh was fractured last year, the cleric has been firmly locked inside. Francesc suffers from sciatica.
Tea will be offered to the pope.
“His Eminence will provide His Holiness with a message of peace and love for all mankind,” the official said.
Gifts will be exchanged.
It is not clear what Najaf will give, but Francis will certainly present to Al-Sistani bound copies of his most important writings, including his latest encyclical “Brothers All,” on the need for greater brotherhood among all peoples. a more peaceful, ecologically sustainable and fairer world.
So far, papal plans to visit Iraq have ended in failure.
The late Pope John Paul II was unable to attend in 2000, when negotiations with the government of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein broke down.
One mishap after another almost knocked him down as well.
Iraq fell into a second wave of coronavirus last month driven by the most infectious new strain that first erupted in the UK. At the same time, a series of rocket attacks aimed at the American presence in the country were resumed. The U.S. has blamed militias aligned with Iran.
These same groups, strengthened after the fatwa of Al-Sistani, are accused of terrorizing Christians and preventing them from returning home. The Iraqi government and religious officials are concerned that these militias may carry out rocket attacks in Baghdad or elsewhere to show their displeasure over Al-Sistani’s meeting with Francis.
As pope, Francis is 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 leader of the Najaf seminaries, which gives him worldwide reverence.
The Iranian seminaries Khamenei and Qom compete for this prestige. Al-Sistani’s school of thought opposes the direct government of the clergy, the current system in Iran, where Khamenei has the final say in all matters.
“The visit could upset some people and they might try to delay or cancel the visit, I feel this concern,” a second official said in Najaf. “Who could be bothered? Hawza of Qom, ”he said, using the Arabic term referring to the seminars.
Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s first judge, considered a potential presidential candidate or even Khamenei’s successor, was unsuccessful in his attempts to meet with Al-Sistani on a recent trip.
“This increased tension with the Iranians, as His Eminence did not see Raisi, but will see His Holiness the Pope,” the official said.
Aside from politics and rivalries, almost everyone through the Iraqi multi-faith fabric will have something to gain from the brief encounter.
“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 tinged with tendencies toward violence and intolerance.”
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Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.