Pope Francis will visit Iraq next March, the Vatican reported Monday, in an unprecedented trip, as no pope has ever visited the country before.
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Spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis, who turns 84 next week, will visit, among others, the capital Baghdad and Ur, the city linked to the Biblical figure of Abraham.
It will be the pope's first overseas trip since November 2019. Trips planned for this year were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A Vatican source said that one of the aims of the trip is to comfort Christians who, amid wars and conflicts, have been forced to flee from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.
Iraq's small Christian population of several hundred thousand suffered particular hardships when Islamic State terrorists controlled large parts of the country between 2014 and 2017.
Iraqi President Barham Salih said in a post on Twitter that the trip "will be a message of peace to Iraqis of all religions and serve to affirm our common values of justice and dignity."
