Pope Francis waves as he boards a plane to depart to Iraq on March 5, 2021 at Rome's Fiumicino airport. - 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 Andreas SOLARO / AFP)