Latest news with #Al-Sistani
Iraqi News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Iraq's Al-Sistani says Pope Francis sought peace
Baghdad – Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Shiite Islam's highest authority in Iraq, offered his condolences on Monday for the death of Pope Francis, praising his work promoting 'peace and tolerance'. Al-Sistani, 94, who met the late pontiff in 2021 in the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, said in a statement issued by his office that it was an 'important milestone' in supporting interfaith dialogue and 'rejecting violence and hatred'. Francis had a 'special role in serving the causes of peace and tolerance, and solidarity with the oppressed and persecuted around the world', Al-Sistani said. After his historic trip to Iraq, Francis said his meeting with Al-Sistani — who is extremely reclusive and rarely grants audiences — had been 'good for my soul'. The meeting marked a landmark moment in modern religious history and for Francis's efforts to deepen interfaith dialogue. Al-Sistani told the pope that Iraq's Christians should live in 'peace'. Despite the high risks to his personal safety, Francis visited the largely-ruined city of Mosul that was ravaged by the Islamic State group until the jihadists' defeat in 2017. By the time of Francis's visit, Iraq's Christian population had shrunk during years of violence in the country to fewer than 400,000, from around 1.5 million before the US-led invasion of 2003. Francis prayed for the victims of war outside the ruined centuries-old Al-Tahera (Immaculate Conception) Church, where he pleaded for Christians in Iraq and the Middle East to stay in their homelands. On Monday, Benedictus Younan Hanno, the Archbishop of the Syriac Catholic Church of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities, called on churches to ring their bells for the deceased pope. Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani mourned a pope who had 'a life devoted to serving humanity.' 'We recall with reverence his historic visit to Iraq… an event that laid a meaningful foundation for interfaith dialogue and promoted fraternity and compassion among people of all faiths,' he said.
Shafaq News
30-03-2025
- General
- Shafaq News
Ayatollah al-Sistani declares Monday as Eid al-Fitr
Shafaq News/ Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the top Shiite religious authority, has announced that Monday will mark the first day of Eid al-Fitr, following the confirmed sighting of the Shawwal crescent moon. Al-Sistani's office had previously anticipated that Eid would fall on Monday, March 31. The office had earlier set the beginning of Ramadan on Sunday, March 2, predicting that the fasting month would conclude on March 30, lasting 29 days instead of the full 30, as indicated in the published prayer timetable. The Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Endowments declared Sunday as Eid al-Fitr. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced a public holiday from March 29 to April 5. Meanwhile, Iraq's Sunni Endowment stated that Ramadan will be completed as a full 30-day month, making Monday, March 31, the first day of Eid.
