Cardinal Marks Pope Francis and Ayatollah Sistani Meeting With Visit to Shia Mosque

BURTONSVILLE, Md. — Cardinal Robert McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington, visited Idara e Jaferia on Saturday for a program commemorating the fifth anniversary of the 2021 meeting between Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al Sistani in Najaf. The event was organized by the Greater Washington, D.C. chapter of the Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America and framed as a commemoration of a moment that reshaped Catholic-Shia relations and strengthened interfaith dialogue.

"The Pope went to Najaf not just as a head of state, but as a brother seeking wisdom and common ground with a fellow servant of God." - Cardinal McElroy

The visit carried a clear message. Five years after Pope Francis traveled to Najaf to meet Grand Ayatollah Sistani, one of America's most senior Catholic leaders came to a Shia mosque in Maryland to help honor that encounter and its legacy. That gave the event a practical American dimension. It was not just a retrospective about a meeting in Iraq. It was a public expression of Catholic-Shia engagement on mosque ground, before a local audience, in the United States.

"Najaf is a site of deep spiritual gravity, and the Pope’s presence there honored the rich history and intellectual legacy of the Shia community." - Cardinal McElroy

The program also featured remarks from Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, who reflected on the meaning of the Pope's journey to Najaf. Gregory said that the Holy Father's journey was a pilgrimage of peace, showing that fraternal love can bridge even the widest divides. He also said the Pope went to Najaf not just as a head of state, but as a brother seeking wisdom and common ground with a fellow servant of God.

"The encounter between the Holy Father and the Grand Ayatollah served as a powerful testament to the necessity of interfaith solidarity." - Bishop Denis Madden

In one of the clearest formulations of the day's interfaith theme, Gregory added that when the Pope stood in that sacred city, he sent a clear signal to the entire world that dialogue is the only path forward for humanity.

Gregory also directly addressed Najaf's place in the Shia world. He said Najaf is a site of deep spiritual gravity, and the Pope's presence there honored the rich history and intellectual legacy of the Shia community. He added that the meeting between the Pope and the Grand Ayatollah in Najaf reminded us that the pursuit of justice and peace is a shared religious duty. Those comments sharpened the event's main point. The significance of the 2021 meeting was not only diplomatic. It was also theological, moral, and civilizational.

Bishop Denis Madden also emphasized the significance of the Pope's visit to Najaf. He said the Pope demonstrated a profound humility by entering the narrow streets of Najaf, signaling a deep desire for authentic connection. Madden described Najaf as a center of spiritual excellence and a vital pillar for regional stability, and said the encounter between Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Sistani served as a powerful testament to the necessity of interfaith solidarity. He also said Najaf remains a city where the profound commitment to learning and prayer creates an atmosphere the Pope deeply respected.

Madden's remarks pushed the event beyond symbolism. He said that by traveling to Najaf, the Pope showed that no distance is too great when the goal is to foster mutual peace and understanding. That line captured the broader message of the commemoration. The meeting in Najaf still stands as a model for serious engagement between major religious traditions at a time when many global conflicts are aggravated by mistrust, polarization, and sectarian narratives.

The event also included remarks from Sayyid M. B. Kashmiri, who appeared on the program as part of the Shia scholarly leadership panel. His role matters institutionally as well as symbolically. I.M.A.M.'s official structure page lists Sayyid M. B. al Kashmiri as the organization's Vice Chairman and Director of Religious Affairs. The same page notes that I.M.A.M. operates under the supervision of the Marjaeya's Special Representative of Religious Affairs of Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali al Sistani for Europe and North America, the Honorable Scholar Sayyid Murtada al Kashmiri. So while Sayyid M. B. Kashmiri is clearly a senior I.M.A.M. leader and a prominent figure in Sistani-aligned religious work in North America, I.M.A.M.'s current official page does not describe him as the overall head of the organization.

This gathering also did not come out of nowhere. The Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America said in October 2025 that a delegation of Shia scholars met McElroy in Washington, reflected with him on the significance of the Sistani-Francis meeting, and invited him to a public commemoration in 2026. The Council said that earlier meeting focused on strengthening ties between the two faith communities and on shared concerns including polarization, immigration, and young people's religious identity. Saturday's program appears to have been the public fulfillment of that invitation.

McElroy's presence also carried added weight because he has spoken publicly on recent regional conflict. Vatican News reported in April that he described the war with Iran as "morally illegitimate" and urged prayer that the ceasefire hold and lead to peace. That background made his appearance at a Shia mosque for a Najaf-themed commemoration even more notable. It connected interfaith symbolism with an active moral concern about war, peace, and the future of the region.

The result was a serious and layered message. Five years after Pope Francis met Grand Ayatollah Sistani in Najaf, Catholic and Shia leaders gathered in a Maryland mosque to say that the meeting still matters. They presented Najaf not as a relic of a past diplomatic moment, but as an enduring symbol of religious seriousness, dialogue, wisdom, justice, and peace. In a time of war and distrust, that was the real meaning of the day.

Shia Muslim Foundation Meets with Maryland Governor's Office of Homeland Security to Address Safety of Shia Mosques Statewide

The Shia Muslim Foundation (SMF) this week held a meeting with Marcia Deppen, Interim Director of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security, to discuss the physical security of Shia Muslim mosques and Islamic centers operating across Maryland. The meeting marks a significant milestone in SMF's ongoing government relations efforts on behalf of the American Shia Muslim community.

During the engagement, SMF Executive Director Rahat Husain presented a comprehensive briefing on security concerns affecting Shia religious institutions in the state, including threat reporting protocols, federal and state coordination gaps, and the need for dedicated security assistance for Maryland's Shia Muslim centers. SMF provided Director Deppen's office with informatino regarding Shia mosques and Islamic centers operating across the state, spanning Montgomery County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, and Prince George's County, to facilitate direct outreach and security coordination with each institution.

SMF also formally transmitted its Report on Incidents and Threats Against Shia Muslim Centers in Maryland, a documented account of incidents, threats, and harassment targeting Shia mosques and clergy in the state, prepared specifically to support state and federal security engagement. Director Deppen responded promptly, committing to personally work on establishing security contacts for each center and to review the report this week.

"The Governor's Office of Homeland Security's engagement on this issue is a meaningful step toward ensuring that Shia Muslim communities in Maryland receive the same security attention and resources available to other faith communities," said Rahat Husain, Executive Director of the Shia Muslim Foundation.

"We are grateful to Director Deppen for her responsiveness and her commitment to this work, and we look forward to building a durable partnership that delivers real security support to our mosques and centers."

The meeting reflects SMF's broader advocacy agenda, which includes sustained engagement with state and federal law enforcement, homeland security officials, and elected representatives to address the safety and civil rights of Shia Muslims across the United States.

About the Shia Muslim Foundation

The Shia Muslim Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the civic, legal, and community advancement of Shia Muslims in the United States. SMF engages government officials, legal institutions, and community organizations to protect the rights and safety of the American Shia Muslim community.

SMF News: War Has Crushed the Ziyarat Economy in Najaf and Karbala

For Shia Muslims, ziyarat means visiting a holy person's shrine or sacred site as an act of devotion, remembrance, and spiritual connection. In Najaf and Karbala, ziyarat is not only a religious practice. It also supports the local economy because millions of pilgrims need hotels, transport, food, exchange services, guides, and shops near the shrines. That is why the recent collapse in pilgrimage is hitting local Shia families so hard.

The core story is economic hardship. AFP reporting from Najaf and Karbala says the regional war that began in late February sharply reduced the normal flow of pilgrims from Iran, Lebanon, the Gulf, India, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. In Najaf, shopkeepers described markets that used to be packed with foreign visitors now sitting quiet. A jeweler said Iranian pilgrims once kept entire chains of work alive, from merchants to taxi drivers. (Arab News)

That loss of ziyarat traffic has already turned into layoffs and closures. According to the head of the Najaf hotel association, 80 percent of the city's 250 hotels had closed, and more than 2,000 workers had been laid off or pushed onto unpaid leave. One hotel owner said he had to dismiss five employees and keep only one worker to watch nearly 70 empty rooms. That is not a mild downturn. It is a local economic breakdown. (Arab News)

Karbala is facing the same problem. The head of the city's tourism committee said tourist numbers were down around 95 percent, hundreds of hotels had shut, and tour companies were sitting idle. One operator said his company once handled up to 1,000 visitors a month but was now running at only 10 percent of capacity. For workers whose income depends on pilgrimage seasons, that kind of fall leaves little room to absorb the blow. (Arab News)

The reason this matters so much is that Najaf and Karbala are built around ziyarat. In simple terms, ziyarat in these cities is not just prayer at a shrine. It is the whole pilgrimage economy around the shrines of Imam Ali in Najaf and Imam Hussein and Hazrat Abbas in Karbala. When pilgrims arrive, money moves through hotels, restaurants, transport, markets, currency exchange, tour companies, and shrine area vendors. When pilgrims stop coming, all of that seizes up at once. That is exactly what local business owners are describing now. (Arab News)

The scale of the normal pilgrimage economy helps explain the severity of the shock. Iraqi authorities said that during the 2024 Arbaeen season, more than 3.4 million foreign pilgrims entered Iraq through ten border ports in twenty days. (Iraqi News Agency) Another Iraqi government figure later said Iraq received more than 4.1 million foreign pilgrims from 140 nationalities during Arbaeen. (Iraqi News Agency) Those numbers show how dependent the shrine cities are on large scale religious travel.

Iranian pilgrims are especially important to this economy. Iraqi officials reported in August 2024 that millions of foreign pilgrims were entering Iraq during Arbaeen and specifically identified Iran as the main source of pilgrims, alongside visitors from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and other countries. (Iraqi News Agency) That helps explain why the current war has hit Najaf and Karbala so hard. It disrupted the very visitor base that keeps many Shia owned local businesses alive.

Even after a ceasefire took effect on April 8 and Iraq reopened its airspace, AFP reported that little changed on the ground in the holy cities. Some Iraqi visitors returned on weekends, but the larger foreign pilgrimage flow did not rebound in a meaningful way. That shows the problem is deeper than flight access alone. A shrine city economy cannot recover just because the skies reopen. It recovers when pilgrims actually return in large numbers and feel safe enough to travel. (Arab News)

This also matters for Iraq's wider economy because religious tourism is one of its important non oil sectors. The World Bank describes Iraq as heavily dependent on oil, which makes losses in non oil activity more damaging. In Najaf and Karbala, ziyarat is one of the clearest non oil engines supporting ordinary livelihoods. When that engine stalls, the burden falls first on workers and small businesses that already have limited protection. (Arab News)

For Shia Muslims in these cities, the hardship is practical and immediate. Rent still has to be paid. Salaries still have to be met. Drivers still need passengers. Shopkeepers still need customers. Tour companies still need bookings. So when ziyarat collapses, it is not just a spiritual silence around the shrines. It becomes lost wages, closed hotels, unpaid leave, and mounting pressure on Shia families whose livelihoods depend on the pilgrims not staying away. (Arab News)