“The pope’s last prayer in the Middle East was in the Kurdistan Region, and the relationship between the pope and the president of the Kurdistan Region was also very strong,” Rezan Hama Salih, the KRG’s representative to Italy, told Rudaw’s Znar Shino.
Salih confirmed that Barzani will represent Iraq at the ceremony. “Several other countries also requested [to attend], but the Vatican itself identified the people and countries that are very close.”
“While the Kurdistan Region does not have a Christian majority, coexistence in the Kurdistan Region has made it very special,” he added.
Pope Francis died at his residence on Monday after weeks of illness. The 88-year-old had been admitted to hospital in Rome on February 14 and was diagnosed with pneumonia. After 38 days, he was discharged from the hospital and appeared in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to wish a Happy Easter to thousands of worshippers. The cause of his death was identified by doctors as a stroke and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.
The pope made a historic trip to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in March 2021, visiting the birthplace of Abraham in Ur in southern Iraq and the war-torn northern city of Mosul, and celebrating mass for 10,000 people in Erbil.
President Barzani expressed his condolences in a post on X on Monday, saying he was “deeply saddened by the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis - a man of great humility, compassion, and moral courage.”
“His Holiness’s historic and courageous visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in 2021 was a profound act of faith and solidarity, remembered with deep respect and gratitude by all our people,” he added. “I will always cherish our meetings and his prayers for peace in Kurdistan, Iraq, and the world.”
World leaders including United States President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also attend the funeral.
