Arafat asked Saddam to allow Pope John Paul to visit Iraq in 2000

Published: 2004-11-11

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As he prepared to host Pope John Paul II in the Palestinian territories in 2000, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat wrote then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and urged him to drop his opposition to a papal visit, a Vatican official said. Cardinal Roberto Tucci, for years the main organizer of papal trips, disclosed the episode in an interview with Vatican Radio Nov. 11. Arafat died earlier the same day in a Paris hospital. Cardinal Tucci said Arafat and Israeli leaders had shown good cooperation in the preparation of the pope's Holy Land visit during Jubilee Year 2000. The pope had wanted to begin his pilgrimage in Iraq, stopping at biblical sites in the land of Abraham. But Saddam's government showed little willingness to host the pope, fearing a "religious" visit might have political fallout. The Iraqis said no and blamed it on security issues. Cardinal Tucci said he learned from reliable sources that Arafat sent a personal emissary to Saddam, telling him he was misreading the pope's intentions. In the end, Saddam persisted in his refusal, and the pope was forced to settle for a Vatican service that recalled the Iraqi biblical sites in prayers, images and songs.

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