Pope Francis Visit to Iraq 2021

Friday, March 5, 2021 - Monday, March 8, 2021

On his first trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis makes the first-ever apostolic journey to Iraq from March 5-8. Watch on YouTube or Facebook. Bishop Anthony B. Taylor asked for prayers for the Holy Father and the people of Iraq in his Feb. 26 letter to priests, deacons, seminarians and people of the Diocese of Little Rock. "I would like to encourage all of us to make a special effort to support Pope Francis in prayer during this critical time, both in the Prayers of the Faithful during Mass as well as in our own private prayer," he wrote. 

"Due to the coronavirus threat and obvious security concerns, I believe that prayer is very much needed, both prayer in support of Pope Francis’ efforts as well as prayer for the suffering people of Iraq. The Christian population of Iraq in 2003 prior to our invasion of that country was 1.5 million people. Due to that disaster followed by the depredations of the so-called Islamic State and consequent emigration to other countries, the Christian population there has declined to under 400,000. Let us pray that Pope Francis’ visit will bring people hope and provide an opening for peace after so many years of conflict and division," he added.