Archbishop of Erbil on the historic visit of Pope Francis to Iraq

Our ‘Catholic News’ podcast episodes are coming thick and fast from COVID-19 lockdown and today we’re carrying on from where we left off last time. Our focus remains on Pope Francis and his historic visit to the Iraq – the first by any pope to the country.

Last time we looked to the capital Baghdad and the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Cardinal Louis Sako. For this podcast, we head north to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Our guest is an ebullient and purposeful Chaldean leader – Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda – a man well known to us in the UK as he has visited many times drawing our attention to the plight of Christians in the country.

In this interview we learn more about the preparations for the Papal Visit – particularly in light of COVID-19 – the realities facing the Christians in the north and his oh-so-realistic hopes for the future.