Pope Francis heads to Iraq for first post-pandemic trip

Despite security and coronavirus threats, Pope Francis is flying to Iraq on his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic. The leader of the world’s Catholics will spend four days in the country touring the cities of Baghdad, Erbil and Mosul, as well as smaller Christian townships destroyed by I-S. Iraq’s Christian population hopes the historic trip will promote reconciliation and co-existence - but there are concerns about the timing of the visit

A poster of Pope Francis in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region Source: Getty Images