Shafaq News- Dhi Qar
The chair used by the late Pope Francis during hishistoric 2021 visit to Iraq has yet to be delivered to Dhi Qar’s archaeologicalmuseum despite a government decision allocating it to the province, a localsource told Shafaq News on Thursday.
The pontiff left the chair in the ancient city of Urafter participating in the Abrahamic prayer gathering, an interfaith event thatbrought together representatives of Iraq’s religious communities, in March2021. Iraq’s Council of Ministers, under former Prime Minister MustafaAl-Kadhimi, later approved its transfer to the archaeological museum inNasiriyah, the source said, but more than five years on, the chair’s whereaboutsremain unknown.
The source also referred to unverified reportsalleging that a political entity sold the item to an external party forhundreds of millions of dinars. No evidence has been presented to support theclaim, and no official body has publicly confirmed it.
Pope Francis, who died in 2025, was the first pontiffto visit Iraq. During his four-day trip, he traveled to Baghdad, Ur, Najaf,Erbil, Mosul, and Qaraqosh, where he met political, religious, and communityleaders, including Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, Grand AyatollahAli Al-Sistani.
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