Pope Francis 'walking into the unknown' as he risks his safety to keep Iraqi Christianity alive

He has visited trouble spots around the world, from Azerbaijan and Colombia to Mozambique and Myanmar.

On a trip to the Central African Republic, he became the first pope to enter an active war zone, while on the mean streets of Rio de Janeiro he gave his security staff conniptions by mingling with the crowds.

But even for Pope Francis, who has shown himself to be unfazed by risks to his personal safety, an historic visit to Iraq this week will present acute challenges.

The four-day trip, which begins on Friday, will be the first time a pope has visited Iraq. It is the only country with a Biblical history that has not been visited by a pontiff.

Francis will visit Baghdad, Erbil and Qaraqosh as well as Mosul, a former stronghold of the Islamic State terrorist network, and Ur, believed to be the birthplace of Abraham, who is revered by the three monotheistic religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

It is his first venture abroad in 15 months – several had to be cancelled last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the pope, renowned for his love of meeting ordinary people, is said to be itching to be back on the road.

But the trip is fraught with risks. On Wednesday, just two days before Francis is due to board his plane in Rome, at least 10 rockets landed on an air base in western Iraq that hosts US, British and other coalition forces.

Given the dangers, Francis will not be travelling in his customary open-topped white Pope-mobile.

Instead he will have to ride in the bomb- and bullet-proof vehicles that the Iraqi government is insisting he use. Iraqi authorities are deploying 10,000 police and soldiers to shield him from potential threats.

“It is a very courageous trip given all the risks involved,” Gerard O’Connell, a Vatican expert in Rome, told The Telegraph. “He’s walking into the unknown. But he has always said that his life is in the hands of God. He’s not worried about his personal security.”

To prevent papal gatherings and masses from becoming super-spreader events, numbers will be restricted.

The Pope, who is reported to have been vaccinated against the virus, does not want to be responsible for spreading Covid-19 in a country made vulnerable by violence, poverty and dysfunction.

Even so, 10,000 people are expected to attend the final event of the trip – an outdoor Mass at a stadium in Erbil.

One of the main aims of the trip will be to show solidarity with Iraq’s long-suffering Christians, a dwindling community that has endured years of war, persecution by Islamic State and threats to religious freedom.

The Christian population of Iraq has dwindled from around 1.5 million 20 years ago, before the US-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein, to as little as 250,000.

“It’s been a long time that I have wanted to be able to meet the long-suffering Iraqi people, to have an encounter with the martyr Church in the land of Abraham,” the pope said at the end of his general audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said he hoped the papal visit would bring some comfort to struggling Christian communities.

“We know that the Church has suffered a lot,” he said. “It has lost many Christians who have left Iraq for other countries.”

The Pope also wants to express solidarity with Iraqi Muslims and to reinforce links with Islamic leaders, continuing a long-running theme of his papacy.

He will meet Iraq’s most senior Shi'ite Muslim cleric, the 90-year-old Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in the holy city of Najaf. He is a hugely influential figure in Iraq, where around 65% of the population is Shi’ite.

It follows Francis’ previous encounters with the grand imam of Cairo’s al-Azhar mosque, the highest authority of Sunni Islam.

“It’s part of his efforts to embrace the Muslim world. He believes that Christians and Muslims working together can do great things towards promoting peace,” said Mr O’Connell, Vatican correspondent for the Jesuit publication America and author of The Election of Pope Francis: an Inside Account of the Conclave That Changed History.

Francis touched on the theme of inter-religious dialogue in his general audience on Wednesday.

"In the land of Abraham, together with other religious leaders, we also will take another step forward in fraternity among believers," he said.

But that message of inter-faith harmony may be hard for some Iraqi Christians to swallow after enduring years of persecution by the fanatics of Islamic State, who butchered families and destroyed churches.

Critics are questioning the wisdom of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church visiting a country that is subject not only to regular militia attacks but is in the midst of a resurgence of Covid-19 infections.

“I think it’s reckless to go now,” said Robert Mickens, a long-time Vatican observer and the editor of La Croix International, a Catholic news website.

“Why not wait until the summer, when virus infections tend to go down? The Vatican has waited 20 years for this trip – waiting another three months wouldn’t make much difference.

"If the point of the visit is to be physically close to Christians, it doesn’t make sense – he won’t be allowed to be close to them because of the pandemic.”

With the security situation so unstable, there are fears for the pope’s safety. In January, twin suicide bombings claimed by Islamic State ripped through a market in Baghdad, killing at least 32 people.

Frequent rocket attacks, including the most recent one on Wednesday, target the coalition presence in the country.

There are concerns that Shi’ite militias could launch an attack to protest against the pope’s meeting with their religious leader, Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.

“It’s not just militias that pose a threat. There could be lone wolves, crazy people, someone trying to make a name for himself,” said Mr Mickens. “It’s just too dicey at this point - not just for the pope, but for the big entourage of journalists and Vatican officials that he is dragging along with him.”