Metropolitan Kirill, head of the Department for external relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow, left for Iraq on 25 March, at the head of a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church. During the visit, the Metropolitan will meet the spiritual leaders of the Christian and Moslem communities and political representatives at the highest level with whom the Russian delegation will discuss the country’s humanitarian situation. “It is well known says a communiqué issued by the Patriarchate that Christian Churches throughout the world have repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to the needs of the Iraqi population and the sufferings caused by the political and economic embargo”. The Patriarchate too appeals to the international community to consider the “situation of the Iraqi people who are living in poverty and who are deprived of adequate healthcare due to the severe economic sanctions” imposed on their country. The Russian delegation will deliver a consignment of medical supplies to the paediatric clinic in Baghdad as an expression of “solidarity with the people of Iraq”.
