International Women Day: Pope Francis thanks Iraqi women

Women‌‌ 12:48 PM - 2021-03-08

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On the occasion of International Women Day (IWD), Pope Francis hailed Iraqi women for continuing to give life despite wounds.

 

Pope Francis said in a tweet: "I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the women, especially the women of Iraq, the courageous women who continue to give life despite the violations and wounds. May women be respected and protected! Let them receive attention and give opportunities!"

 

Iraqi women saw great atrocities, where the most recent one was the genocide of the Yazidis by ISIS terrorists. After the fall of Sinjar in 2014, ISIS took the lives of over 5,000 Yazidi men and abducted about 7000 Yazidi women and girls (who were forced into slavery).

 

The Pope's tweet came after he took off from Baghdad International Airport on Monday morning following the end of a historic trip to Iraq.

 

After Pope Francis's departure, the Iraqi President said in a tweet that the visit of Pope Francis holds the message of peace and solidarity: "Bidding farewell to His Holiness @Pontifex, our honored guest who visited Baghdad, Najaf, Ur, Erbil, Nineva. His message of peace, human solidarity with #Iraq inspires us to persevere toward a better future for the people of Iraq and the wider region."

 

At the invitation of the Iraqi President who addressed an invitation letter to the Vatican Pope in 2019, the Pope of the Vatican, Pope Francis, arrived in Iraq last Friday and held a series of expanded meetings with the President of the Republic, the Iraqi Prime Minister and representatives of Iraqi political parties, and he also visited the Kurdistan Region and held a Mass in the city of Erbil, and he also visited the city of Mosul and held another mass in the oasis of allegiance that he destroyed ISIS terrorist organization.

 

Pope's visit to Iraq is of great significance as it is the first papal visit to Iraq and the first international visit of Pope Francis outside of the Vatican City since the outbreak of the corona epidemic.

 

This papal visit to Iraq comes at a time when only a few hundred thousand Christians are left in the country. Following the US-led invasion of 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee and attacks by ISIS in 2014 further hit all minority communities. According to data from Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Warda, there were more than one million Christians in Iraq before 2003. Fewer than 300,000 remain today.

 

 

 

PUKmedia