Iraqi security guards stand in front of a huge billboard bearing portraits of Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani (R) in central Baghdad on March 4, 2021, on the eve of the pontiff's first visit to Iraq. - Pope Francis begins his historic trip to war-scarred Iraq on March 5, defying security concerns and the coronavirus pandemic to comfort one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities. He is expected to meet the Shiite top cleric the next morning in the holy city of Najaf in cenral Iraq. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)