Pope Francis has arrived in Mosul on his tour of Iraq, a former stronghold of terror group Islamic State.
The
Pope flew in by helicopter from nearby Erbil, and will hold mass in the
decimated northern city, where just a handful of Christian families now
live.
Thousands of Christians fled the area during the IS occupation, where
they were faced with conversion, death, or paying a tax for non-Muslims.
He took part in mass from a city square surrounded by the ruins of
several damaged churches, which were destroyed when IS overran the area
in 2014.
The 84-year-old walked past city ruins to the
once-thriving square in Mosul's old town, where he prayed for all of the
people who died in the violence.
"How cruel it is that this country, the cradle of civilization,
should have been afflicted by so barbarous a blow, with ancient places
of worship destroyed and many thousands of people - Muslims, Christians,
Yazidis and others - forcibly displaced or killed," he said.
"Today, however, we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more
durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that
peace more powerful than war."
Pope Francis added that hope could not be "silenced by the blood
spilled by those who pervert the name of God to pursue paths of
destruction."
In 2014, in Mosul's al-Nuri mosque, Abu Bakr al
Baghdadi gave a sermon in an extremely rare public appearance, where he
announced the IS caliphate.
Mosul was liberated in July 2017 after a brutal three-year regime of
terror in the city, that left an estimated 9,000-11,000 people dead.
The
Vatican hopes that Pope Francis' appearance in Mosul will encourage
Christian communities to stay in the area, despite years of violence and
persecution.
The Pope visited one of the most influential Muslim leaders in the world on Saturday, Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, where the men discussed the issues facing Christian communities in the country.
Following
the meeting, Al Sistani said he wanted Muslims and Christians to
coexist in Iraq, and called on other religious leaders to hold great
powers to account and for wisdom and sense to prevail over war.
Later
in the day, Pope Francis will travel to the Christian village of
Qaraqosh, where he will visit the Immaculate Conception Church, before
heading back to Erbil to hold mass in the Franso Hariri
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