Iraq, spokesman for the Sadrist Movement: Muqtada al-Sadr will pay a visit to the Vatican

[TomSea]

Iraq, spokesman for the Sadrist Movement: Muqtada al-Sadr will pay a visit to the Vatican
The meeting with Pope Francis should take place as part of the Shiite leader’s upcoming trip to Europe

Vatican insider staff
turin

Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr will set on a European tour responding to official invitations, including a visit to the Vatican and a meeting with Pope Francis. This was confirmed in recent days by Jaafar al Mussawi, spokesman for Muqtada al-Sadr. The same announcement also refers to the official invitation addressed to the leader of the Sadrist movement by Egypt. The spokesman himself pointed out that al-Sadr’s activism on international scenarios is aimed primarily at favoring the reconstruction in areas of Iraq, which had been occupied by jihadist militias in 2014.   

In the years following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the name of al-Sadr - the son of the famous Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr - appeared linked to the Mahdi Army, a militia organized by the Shia leader to combat the US military presence in the Country. Analysts have seen several changes of the leader over the last decade, which in 2008 dissolved his militia and does not appear aligned either with Iran or with the government of Baghdad controlled by Shia political forces. In the past, Muqtada al-Sadr hoped to overcome the “quota system” which since Saddam’s death is based on sectarian power management in Iraq. 

Continued: http://www.lastampa.it/2017/08/28/vaticaninsider/eng/news/iraq-spokesman-for-the-sadrist-movement-muqtada-alsadr-will-pay-a-visit-to-the-vatican-wCUEqAevTm2XOVkjqY66RL/pagina.html