Amid the threat of the coronavirus and risks, Pope Francis decided to push through with his trip to Iraq because the country has suffered for so long.

Francis boarded an Alitalia plane with his entourage, security detail and 72 journalists. He left Rome and proceeded to a 4 and a half hour trip to Baghdad.

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Iraq on the other hand deployed thousands of security personnel ahead of the visit of the Pope. The visit comes despite recent cases of suicide bombing and rocket attacks to the country.

“I am happy to be making trips again. This is an emblematic trip and it is a duty towards a land that has been martyred for so many years,” Francis said in the plane. This is the Pope’s first trip since the start of the pandemic in 2019.

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Francis’s whirlwind tour will take him by plane, helicopter and possibly armored car to four cities, including areas that most foreign dignitaries are unable to reach, let alone in such a short space of time.

The Pope will also celebrate a mass at a Baghdad church. He will also go to Mosul, a former stronghold of the Islamic State. (TDT)

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