Pope Francis’ Iraq visit chair yet to reach Dhi Qar museum

Shafaq News- Dhi Qar

The chair used by the late Pope Francis during his historic 2021 visit to Iraq has yet to be delivered to Dhi Qar’s archaeological museum despite a government decision allocating it to the province, a local source told Shafaq News on Thursday.

The pontiff left the chair in the ancient city of Ur after participating in the Abrahamic prayer gathering, an interfaith event that brought together representatives of Iraq’s religious communities, in March 2021. Iraq’s Council of Ministers, under former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, later approved its transfer to the archaeological museum in Nasiriyah, the source said, but more than five years on, the chair’s whereabouts remain unknown.

The source also referred to unverified reports alleging that a political entity sold the item to an external party for hundreds of millions of dinars. No evidence has been presented to support the claim, and no official body has publicly confirmed it.

Pope Francis, who died in 2025, was the first pontiff to visit Iraq. During his four-day trip, he traveled to Baghdad, Ur, Najaf, Erbil, Mosul, and Qaraqosh, where he met political, religious, and community leaders, including Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.

Read more: What makes Pope Francis' visit to Iraq "historic"?