Workers hang flags of Iraq and Vatican City on road posts in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, on February 4, 2021, on the eve of a historic visit by Pope Francis to the war-battered country. - Defying security fears and the pandemic to comfort one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities, the 84-year-old pontiff starts on February 5 a 4-day visit to Iraq as a "pilgrim of peace", and will reach out to Shiite Muslims when he meets Iraq's top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP)