ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, arrived in the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq just after 8 a.m. on March 7, on the last full day of his three-day visit to the country, touching down not far from where rockets had hit some three weeks before.
Awaiting him were top Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials and representatives of several religious denominations as well as many women and children, mostly in brightly colored traditional clothing, singing songs with “baba” (“pope”) featuring prominently.