Vaccinated Pope Francis heads to Iraq amid covid outbreak

Vaccinated Pope Francis heads to Iraq amid covid outbreak

ROME — When Pope Francis this week embarks on his first trip abroad since the pandemic began, everybody on board, from priests to journalists, will be vaccinated. The plane will be packed. Aside from mask-wearing, it will look like any other papal voyage.Support our journalism. Subscribe today.arrow-rightBut then Francis will arrive in Iraq — where the coronavirus is raging.Francis's trip gives some hope that global figures, once they are armed with the mighty power of inoculation, might be able to travel again widely.But some health experts say that in venturing to a country with far fewer resources to manage the pandemic, the pope's March 5-8 trip is nonetheless risky. It could spur crowds — and increase the transmission of the virus — in a nation that is nominally under curfew, has a brittle health system, and where only a minimal batch of Chinese-made vaccine doses have arrived.Vatican-watchers had been speculating for weeks that the pope's plans might be scrapped. But Francis, 84, who last year complained of feeling “caged” under lockdown, has indicated he feels the need to go ahead, continuing his outreach to the Muslim world and providing symbolic support for Iraq's tiny Christian minority. Iraq's caretaker government also