"[Pope Francis] will visit Baghdad, the Plain of Ur, linked to Abraham, the city of Erbiil, as well as Mosul and Qaraqosh in the Plain of Nineveh [on March 5-8," Bruni said, as cited by the Ansa news agency.

According to the spokesman, the visit, initiated by the Iraqi authorities and the local Catholic Church as a "message of peace," will take place given the epidemiological situation in the world.