The legacy of the Pope's Iraq visit

The legacy of the Pope's Iraq visit

It's hard to overstate just how significant Pope Francis's visit to Iraq really was. Nor how remarkable it is that it actually went ahead. Iraq, despite the best efforts of the security forces, is not stable. Just days before the Pope arrived on March 5, a US civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack, probably the work of an Iran-backed militia. Pope Francis’s predecessor Benedict said days before the pontiff left the Vatican that the trip was dangerous. And yet, it went ahead. And it did so in the middle of a global pandemic. On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young looks at the highlights of the visit, hearing from The National’s own correspondents stationed across the country for the trip, and asks: what will be the legacy of these four historic days?

Episoder(476)

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When the Sudanese city of El Fasher fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in late October, the group gained control of the entire Darfur region and areas to the south-west. Their rivals, the S...

12 Nov 202519min

Why voters are snubbing Iraq’s election

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Iraqis are going back to polls this month for the sixth time since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein more than 20 years ago. It is expected to be one of the most contested elections yet....

7 Nov 202522min

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