Pope Francis landed at Baghdad airport on Friday afternoon, in the first ever papal visit to Iraq despite security concerns amid a string of rocket attacks and a double suicide bombing.

The 84-year-old was greeted on the tarmac by the Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, before he was set to make his way to the presidential palace in Palace for the start of a landmark three-day visit where ceremonial guards and a military band awaited him.

In some of his first comments he urged Iraq to treat its minorities as a “precious resource to protect”. 

Speaking from the presidential palace in Baghdad shortly after arriving in the country, Francis said that no group should be considered as second class citizens, and minorities including Christians should be given the same rights and protections as the Shiite Muslim majority.

The 84-year-old had ignored concerns about the security breakdown and the pandemic to travel to the Iraqi capital, breaking a year long travel hiatus due to Covid-19.

When he touched down in Baghdad airport he was met by Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on the tarmac amid tightened security. 

Drones overhead monitored the routes the Pope took, explosives and counter-terrorism teams were on stand-by and thousands of additional troops had been deployed to guard him for his three-day tour. 

Despite usually opting for an open top vehicle and greeting crowds Francis, was transported around Baghdad in what Iraqi security officials said was an armoured black BMW, flanked by rows of police. It was believed to be the first time Francis had used a bullet-proof car.

At the palace, where he and President Salih spoke about tolerance, Pope Francis said: “Only if we learn to look beyond our differences and see each other as members of the same human family will we be able to begin an effective process of rebuilding and leave to future generations a better, more just and more humane world.”

The president acknowledged the violence and persecution that Iraq’s Christians and other minority groups have suffered over the last few years saying they had been forced to abandon their homes and country having “direct consequences for the concepts of pluralism and tolerance”. 

Among the crowds to greet the pontiff was Danny, 23, a young Iraqi man from Baghdad waving both Iraqi and Vatican flags.

“We need this positive message that he is bringing – that Iraq should be unified and no sectarian divisions,” he told The Independent.

The night before he arrived, Francis said the visit happening under the shadow of security risks and surging coronavirus cases was an “act of love”.

Many had voiced concern about his arrival as it came just two days after a barrage of rockets stuck a base in a west Iraq that hosts US troops, during which one US contractor died from a heart attack .

“I come among you as a pilgrim of peace, to repeat ‘you are all brothers’,” Francis said in a video-message to the Iraqi people on the eve of his visit.

“I come as a pilgrim of peace in search of fraternity, animated by the desire to pray together and walk together, also with brothers and sisters of other religious traditions.”

Among the places he will visit are former the Isis stronghold of Mosul, where he will meet Iraq’s top Shia cleric, grand ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf and the ancient Mesopotamian site of Ur. At Ur, the birthplace of the prophet Abraham who is revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews, he will hold an interfaith gathering. 

In January, Baghdad suffered its first major suicide bombing in three years when two people blew themselves up at a crowded market, killing more than 30.

But Francis vowed to travel regardless, saying this week that “the people cannot be let down for a second time”. 

Pope John Paul II had to cancel a planned trip in 2000 after talks with the government of then-leader Saddam Hussein collapsed. 

Since then Iraq’s Christian population has been devastated by militant attacks and Isis’s takeover, shrinking from over a million before the US invasion in 2003 to just over 200,000 now.

That said, the Vatican has admitted that there will be additional security precautions taken because of the dangers of the trip. 

The papal entourage were all vaccinated ahead of the trip to Iraq, where the number of coronavirus cases was breaking daily records. On Wednesday the country recorded more than 5,000 cases, the highest daily infection rate since the start of the pandemic. 

Iraqi security officials were taking no chances and told Reuters that the forces involved had been trained to deal with worst-case scenarios, from street battles to bombings and rocket attacks.

They said that undercover intelligence and national security officers will also be deployed at the gatherings attended by the pope while a technical team can also jam or cut off suspicious phone calls or radio communications. 

Vatican officials have they are satisfied that Iraqi forces will be able to provide adequate protection for the Pope and his entourage.

Clerics in Baghdad agreed, saying the Pope will be protected for his “vital” trip. 

“It is a sign of hope, and the beginning of change, for Christians and all minorities in Iraq as the last ten years have been very difficult with Al-Qaeda and later Isis,” said Father Nadir Dakov of Baghdad’s St Joseph  Chaldean church where the Pope will celebrate mass on Saturday night. 

“Many of these Christians fled from their homelands to different places just to survive. We want to change this before it’s too late,” he added. 

Areas around the sites the pope will be visiting, including St Joseph, have been given a makeover for the occasion. 

Roads he is expected to use have been remade, while dozens of workers have been applying fresh paint to pavement, walls as well as tending to gardens surrounding the buildings. 

Across Baghdad streets were festooned with Iraqi and Vatican flags as well as billboards, posters and murals depicting Francis. 

Christians see the visit as an important sign of solidarity after years of persecution and violence which has driven tens of thousands to leave their homes, but some are worried that it will serve as little more than a public relations exercise. 

“A lot of world leaders and people have refused to come to Iraq because of the security situation so it is important that he has decided to visit despite the potential dangers,“ said Jameel, 32, a Christian from Qaraqosh in northern Iraq where the Pope will also visit. His family members were kidnapped by Isis. 

“We know this will bring hope – but we need action and change.”