Pope departs Rome for first-ever visit to Iraq

Pope Francis boarded a plane to Iraq on Friday to urge the country’s dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution.

Brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his first-ever visit, the pontiff could be seen arriving at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Friday morning and stepping onto the Alitalia aircraft.

During his visit to Iraq, Francis will pray in the Baghdad church that was the site of one of the worst massacres of Christians, the 2010 attack by Islamic militants that left 58 people dead.

He will honor the dead in a Mosul square surrounded by shells of destroyed churches and meet with the small Christian community that returned to Qaraqosh, where he will bless their church that was used as a firing range by IS.

Francis is breaking his year-long COVID-19 lockdown to refocus the world’s attention on a largely neglected people whose northern Christian communities, which date from the time of Christ, were largely emptied during the violent Islamic State reign from 2014-2017.