Pope Francis Meeting with Iraq’s Sistani, shakes khamenei’s tyranny

The visit of Pope Francis, the world's Catholic leader, to Iraq is a political and historical event.

An event that matters more than just a visit by a religious leader. The political significance of the Pope's visit to Iraq and his meeting with Ayatollah Sistani can be viewed as recognizing Ayatollah Sistani is the main figure in Shiite Islam.

Pope’s visit of Ali Sistani in Najaf is a serious blow to Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, who calls himself, the leader of the world's Muslims.

The meeting also confirms that Najaf is "the heart of Shiism and its capital" and not Qom (central Iran), which is the symbol of the reactionary organization and Islamic fundamentalism and religious dictatorship and its policies in Iran. "Who can be upset?" Said an official in Najaf. "Qom seminary."

The meeting comes as Ibrahim Raessi, the head of Iran's judiciary, one of the leaders of the death squad in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, failed to meet with Sistani during his recent visit to Iraq.

The pope has not met with any of the world's other religious leaders in their private homes! Rahman Ameri, Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican, announced that a memorandum of solidarity and unity between followers of different religions would be signed during Pope Francis' meeting with Ayatollah Sistani.

Prime Minister Mostafa Al-Kazemi also considers the pope's visit as a sign of consolidation of his government in the current situation. His government is facing the biggest challenge from the Iranian regime’s proxy forces such as kata’ib Hezbollah and Hash Al Shaabi in Iraq’s affairs.

This trip is valued by many leaders in the region, of course, but it is very painful for the Iranian regime and Khamenei himself and affirms Khamenei’s place in a deadly deadlock and in isolation because Khamenei has called himself the leader of the world's Muslims for many years. On the other hand, while Khamenei is trying to maintain his regime by relying on concentration of power and maintaining the hegemony resulting from the idea of Velayat-e-Faqih, religious fascism, political contraction, and closing all the gaps, this is a political blow to his hegemony in the current situation that he desperately needs it.

For the past 42 years, mullahs’ dictatorship has been based on an opportunistic idea that to maintain power and monopoly employed its 62 organs of repression and destroyed any other person who did not go along with them and thought differently.

Khamenei promoted and expanded this idea to the society and a wider uniform organization of so-called religious leaders and has turned this system of thought into a system of government. Humans and groups affiliated with this idea are oppressive, ruthless, and devoid of any mercy.

A prominent example of this is IRGC and its terrorist Quds force that by deploying its proxy forces in the region, such as Hash Al-Shaabi kata’ib Hezbollah, etc., have turned the lives of people of Iraq and the region into a living hell.

Pope Francis implicitly referred to this, in a letter to Iraqi people before his visit he wrote: "We will certainly not allow the terrible suffering that you endured and that hurt me so much to prevail. We will not give up in the face of evil ..." That is why mullahs’ regime proxy forces in Iraq not only do not welcome the Pope's visit but also strongly oppose it. Abu Ali Askari from Kata’ib Hezbollah said: We should not be too optimistic about the Pope's visit. It is better to reform his country first and then reform others. We have no dialogue with the occupiers and the killers, and we warn of what is going to be woven in Ur. We congratulate the operation against the evil base of Ain Al-Assad and recommend that it continue.

The Vatican under the command of Pope Francis is busy rebuking ownership of firearms for personal protection to the cheers of Islamic followers as well as decrying attempting any evangelical conversion of islamists plus suppressing followers of the pre Vatican 2 liturgy form including the latin mass But when it comes to other forms of mono theistic beliefs such as the One World Abu Dhabi Movement. Francis refuses to say one word disclaiming and decrying what practice adherents of the Islam code Sharia not only claim, but truly believe that God has authorized them to any evil means using force or decption used to convert is justified as well as kill those who refuse to submit to their version of Gods will .

I respect the author. He has a background that does give him insight into most topics he writes about.

On this matter though, I think he underestimates the will of the Mullahs in Tehran. I don't think they are shaking due to the Catholic Pope's visit to Iraq.

He over emphasizes any importance of:

"The pope has not met with any of the world's other religious leaders in their private homes!"

That is due to nothing other than what the Iraqi Shia religious leader's team required for the visit, for that leader's safety. Had other religious leaders made the same requirement on the Pope for his visit, he would have visited them in their homes.

I disagree with him here as well, in re:

"A prominent example of this is IRGC and its terrorist Quds force that by deploying its proxy forces in the region, such as Hash Al-Shaabi kata’ib Hezbollah, etc., have turned the lives of people of Iraq and the region into a living hell."

"Pope Francis implicitly referred to this, in a letter to Iraqi people before his visit he wrote: "We will certainly not allow the terrible suffering that you endured and that hurt me so much to prevail. We will not give up in the face of evil ..."

I think the pope's reference is to the Iraqi people's suffering after the fall of Saddam, the civil conflict that followed, and the conflict with ISIS. I don't think the Pope's comment is directed at the Mullah's of Tehran or their many operations.

Yes there is an internal political struggle within Iraq, where Iraqi politicians are striving to show their independence from Iran, and within that the Mullahs are using their religious stance and their militia organs to hold onto influence among sectors of the Shia majority in Iraq. All true. I just don't think the Mullahs see the Pope's visit or his comments as influencing any of that.

Where there may be some reaction to it all, may, in my view, be long term and in Iran itself, but it will not be immediately a problem for the Mullahs. What might happen is the waking consciousness of the people of Iran, that yes Najaf, in Iraq is the physical spiritual home of Shia Islam (where Shia Islam began) and the significance of that can, only slowly, undermine the Mullah's hold on their own people (because the Mullah's have themselves tied to Shia Islam more than Persian nationalism).

But, I don't see the Mullahs even "shaking" about that, because (1) they disagree with the Shia leader in Iraq (as they must) on the importance of Najaf (*), and (2) they are confident in their organs of control (rightly or wrongly).

(*) The earliest Shia dynasty was a Persian one. Over the centuries there were far more Shia dynasties (in the Middle East) that were Persian than the fewer ones based in Mesopotamia. So, I don't think allegiance to Shia leaders in Najaf is necessarily historical or universal.

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