Iraq hopes to lure Christian pilgrims with new church in ancient Ur

The bell of a new church built near Iraq's ancient city of Ur chimed for the first time last week as part of a push to lure back pilgrims to a country that is home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities. The church is part of a complex that rises from a desert plain in the shadow of the pyramid-shaped Ziggurat of Ur, a city traditionally believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham that was visited by Pope Francis three years ago. On his historic visit to Iraq in March 2021, Pope Francis held an inter-religious prayer at a site in Ur believed to have been the house of Abraham – the father of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.