ON his historic visit to war-ravaged Iraq, Pope Francis journeyed to the country’s north that was held by Islamic State (IS) militants.
Christians were among those targeted by IS when they seized the region in 2014, carrying out human rights abuses.
The Pope prayed among ruined churches in Mosul, visiting Church Square to pray for the victims of the war with the Islamic State group, which left thousands of civilians dead.
Surrounded by the tottering ruins of the square’s four churches, he said the exodus of Christians from Iraq and the broader Middle East had done “incalculable harm not just to the individuals and communities concerned but also to the society they leave behind”.
Francis also travelled by helicopter across the north’s Nineveh Plains to the small Christian community of Qaraqosh where only a fraction of families have returned after fleeing the IS onslaught in 2014.
Referring to the historic region of Mesopotamia, which covered much of modern Iraq including Mosul and the north, Pope Francis said: “How cruel it is that this country, the cradle of civilisation, 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.”
There have been Christians in Iraq since the 1st Century AD.
“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,” Francis said.
IS desecrated Christian places of worship, beheading religious statues and planting booby-trap bombs.
Tens of thousands of Christians fled IS control while those who remained faced having their property stolen and choosing between paying a tax, converting to Islam, leaving or facing death.
There were once more than one million Christians in Iraq, but now their population is estimated to be between 250,000 and 400,000 after years of war and persecution.
Since arriving in Baghdad on Friday, Pope Francis has called for an end to violence and extremism and said that Iraq’s dwindling Christian community should have a more prominent role as citizens with full rights, freedoms and responsibilities.
On Saturday, in a highly symbolic meeting with the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, the Pope echoed this message, saying that Christians should be able to live in peace and security like all other Iraqis.
Audiences with the reclusive 90-year-old spiritual leader of millions of Shia Muslims are rare, but he received the Pope for around 50 minutes, the pair talking without face masks.
The Pope then visited the site of the ancient city of Ur, believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, who is revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
