Delegation from Iraq visited the Holy Mountain

"It is a great honour for me to enter this holy place of yours," were the first words of the First Secretary of the Iraqi Ambassador, Mr. Haider, to the Holy See after stepping out of the diplomatic car. He then headed a three-member delegation to observe the full Catholic Mass on Monday, February 2, 2026, during which the priest blessed the candles that the people had brought with them to the Basilica and then prayed for the top leaders of the Iraqi state.

This is the second state, after Indonesia, that the three presenters of the evening introduced to the packed church at Holy Mountain. Matěj Mosler, a student of political science, presented the realities of Iraq, Miloš Szabo, a parish priest from Svatohora, explained the religious context of the country and Jiří Václavek, an editor of Czech Television, presented the latest news from the press monitoring.

Every month and every day we pray for one independent country on the planet or for a territory that is either seeking independence or has already partially received it. The aim of this initiative is both to give spiritual support to all ceasefire negotiations in areas where war or civil unrest is raging, and to ask God to maintain peace in other parts of the world.

The initiative was blessed by then Pope Francis in the fall of 2019. The project is in collaboration with St. Gotthard Parish in Prague-Bubenč and is supported by the Diplomatic Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

The project also includes two panels placed throughout the month in St. Ignatius Chapel, along with the flag of the Holy See and, this time, the flag of Iraq.

"Thank you all on behalf of Iraq and the Iraqi people. I appreciate very much that your Church is not only thinking of itself, but also of our country, and that it cares that not only the Czech Republic, but also Iraq and other countries live in peace. God bless you," said the diplomat at the end of the evening with emotion.

Miloš Szabo