On Friday, the pope spoke at Our Lady’s Church of Salvation in Baghdad, where more than 50 people were killed in a hostage attack carried out by Islamists in October 2010. On Saturday, Pope Najaf visited the spiritual headquarters of most of the world’s Shia Muslims, where he met with Iraqi Shiites’ top leader, 90-year-old Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali, are buried in the city. On Saturday, the pope also visited the desert city of Ur, the city where Abraham – the father of both Judaism, Christianity and Islam – was born. On Sunday, Pope Francis continued to Arbil, the regional capital of the Kurds in northern Iraq. The next stop on the program was war-torn Mosul, where IS announced the formation of its “caliphate” in 2014. The pope was also to visit Qaraqosh south of Mosul, known as Hamdaniyah and Bakhdida and formerly Iraq’s largest Christian city. The visit to northern Iraq is rounded off with an outdoor fair in Arbil on Sunday afternoon.
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Before the US invasion in 2003, Iraq had an estimated 1.5 million Christians, but today there are only between 250,000 and 400,000 left in a population of 40 million.
“The fact that Christians are leaving Iraq and the Middle East is causing irreparable damage, not only to individuals but also to the society they are leaving,” the pope said in his speech at the ruins of the al-Tahera church.
See more photos from the pope’s historic visit to Iraq here:
Forced to flee
IS forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to flee Nineveh province, where the majority of Iraqi Christians live.
Among those who fled was Raed Kallo, who is today the only remaining priest in Mosul. He shared his story with the pope on Sunday.
Kalllos’ congregation previously numbered 500 Christian families, but today there are only around 70 Christian families left in the city.
Kallo stressed that Mosul’s Muslim residents welcomed the Christians with open arms as they waited to return after IS was defeated.
“After the city was liberated, my Muslim brothers received me with great hospitality and love,” he said.
VG leader about the pope’s visit : “Gives hope in a troubled time”
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MEMBERS OF MEMORIES: Pope Francis prayed on Sunday for the victims of the war in the center of war-torn Mosul in northern Iraq, surrounded by ruins from four churches that were destroyed when IS controlled the city. Photo: ABDULLAH RASHID / Reuters
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Symbolic
After the visit to Mosul, the pope continued by helicopter to Qaraqosh, also known as Hamdaniyah and Bakhdida, a city of great symbolic significance because it was previously Iraq’s largest Christian city.
Many of the inhabitants still speak an Aramaic dialect, the language Jesus spoke. Qaraqosh was also largely destroyed by IS, but has in recent years been partially rebuilt.
– This important visit will strengthen our morale after years of difficulties, problems and wars, said the priest George Jahoula before the pope’s helicopter landed.
Also read: The pope met with Shiite leaders in Iraq
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