Pope Francis' visit to Iraq, in pictures

1Arrival of the Pope's plane at Baghdad airport.

Francisco has landed this Friday at noon in the capital of Iraq, where he will begin a three-day trip through the country.

A risky expedition due to the health and security crisis that the country is going through, but of enormous political and spiritual significance.

REUTERS

2 At the airport, the country's prime minister, Mustafa al Khadimi (right), and a government delegation were waiting for him.

Then he went to the presidential palace aboard an armored passenger car - something unusual for him - where he was received by the head of state, Barham Ahmed Salih Qassim.

ALESSANDRO DI MEO EFE

3A group of men play cards, in a tea house in Erbil (Iraq), while the arrival of the Pope is broadcast on television.

The Pontiff, the first to visit the country, seeks to get closer to the Christian minorities in Iraq and, at the same time, build bridges with Shiite Islam through one of its main leaders: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Chris McGrath Getty

4Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi (right) accompanies Francisco after landing at Baghdad airport.

The Pope has found himself a country confined by the pandemic and subjected to extreme security measures.

REUTERS

5Hundreds of people await the arrival of the Pope at the Baghdad airport.

The population will attend these days to their acts through the windows and televisions in their homes.

Except for the mass for 10,000 people that he will celebrate in an Erbil stadium on Sunday.

THAIER AL-SUDANI REUTERS

6A girl welcomes Pope Francis, handing him a bouquet of flowers.

In the center, the President of Iraq, Barham Salih.

Francisco, however, considered the trip to carry out his careful policy of meeting between bell towers and minarets cannot be postponed.

EFE

7 A woman holds a photograph of the Pope in Baghdad.

THAIER AL-SUDANI REUTERS

8Iraqi President Barham Salih (right) greets clergy before the Pope's arrival at the presidential palace.

The Pontiff went to the palace aboard an armored passenger car - something unusual for him - where he was received by the head of state.

AHMED JALIL EFE

9Iraqi President Barham Salih (left) and Pope Francis during the meeting at the presidential palace this Friday.

The trip, defined by high Vatican sources as the "most important of this pontificate", also has a geopolitical component articulated through the Shiite community, in permanent dispute with the United States.

REUTERS

10Security agents await the arrival of the Pontiff at the Church of Our Lady of Liberation, in Badgad.

Safety will be one of the keys to the trip.

Francisco will make all his trips in the cities that he will visit aboard an armored and covered car (usually he does it on board an ordinary passenger car or on a kind of convertible vehicle).

Thaier Al-Sudani REUTERS

11The Pontiff greets a group of disabled people who are waiting for him in front of the Syrian Christian Cathedral Our Lady of Liberation where he will officiate the first mass.

Francisco condemned as soon as the violence arrived and "the plague of corruption, abuses of power and illegality in which the country has been plunged in recent times."

AFP

12Francisco greets his arrival at the cathedral.

The proximity with the small Christian communities in the area remains these days in the background of the trip.

MURTAJA LATEEF EFE

13A group of nuns welcomes the Pontiff in the Catholic cathedral this Friday.

Vincenzo PINTO AFP

14An Iraqi woman offers Francis a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad.

Vincenzo Pinto AFP

15Francisco signs the guestbook of the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Badgad.

AFP