Pope Francis Travels To Iraq On A Historic Visit

ROME, ITALY - MARCH 05: Pope Francis greets the newly appointed Special Commissioner of Alitalia Giuseppe Leogrande as he arrives at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport for his trip to Iraq on March 05, 2021, in Rome, Italy. Pope Francis will start the historic first-ever papal visit to Iraq. In his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic, Pope Francis will visit Baghdad, Najaf, Erbil and the cities of Qaraqosh and Mosul, which were heavily destroyed by ISIS. Although the trip is seen as an act of solidarity, the Vatican has been forced to defend the decision to go ahead with the papal visit amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as Iraq is currently seeing a spike in infection rates as it faces a deadly second wave of the virus. (Footage by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)