Memorial to The Dead: Pope Prays Iraqi Erbil Set Free From ISIS albawaba.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from albawaba.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Meeting took place after Mass at Franso Hariri stadium in Erbil on Sunday
Pope Francis gestures as he boards a plane to depart for Rome, at Baghdad International Airport in Baghdad. Reuters
Cardinals and ranking Catholic clergymen board the Alitalia Airbus A330 aircraft as Pope Francis bids farewell to other bishops and Iraq s President Barham Saleh and his wife Sarbagh before departing from the Iraqi capital s Baghdad International. AFP
Iraq s President Barham Saleh and his wife Sarbagh escort Pope Francis during the farewell ceremony for the pontiff at the Iraqi capital s Baghdad International Airport. AFP
Pope Francis meets Abdullah Kurdi, father of little Alan, who was shipwrecked with his brother and mother on the Turkish coast in September 2015 while he was trying to reach Europe with his family, at the end of a Mass in the Erbil Stadium. EPA
Pope Francis has ended his historic tour of Iraq, departing the capital Baghdad after visiting conflict-torn cities, meeting Muslim and Christian leaders and preaching peace and coexistence over war.
On Monday, Francis waved one last time before boarding the plane to the Vatican after Iraqi President Barham Salih accompanied the 84-year-old pontiff down a red carpet to his flight.
During the pope’s trip, the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, he toured four cities, including Mosul, the former ISIL (ISIS) stronghold where vast areas still lie in ruins.
In his addresses, he delivered messages of peaceful coexistence, urging coexistence and safety for all.
Pope Francis on Sunday met the father of Alan Kurdi, the boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach six years ago became an image of the suffering of Syrians trying to escape war.
Pope Francis spread a message of peace between peoples and religions during a three-day trip to war-ravaged Iraq that saw him meet a powerful Shiite cleric and boost the hopes of a dwindling Christian community.
Pope Francis, center, walks toward his plane with Iraqi President Barham Salih at Baghdad airport, Iraq, on Monday. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
(CN) Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Monday after a historic three-day trip to Iraq where he gave solace to that country’s suffering Christian communities, spoke out against extremist violence and built new bridges with the Muslim faith.
Francis’ trip was the first made by a pope to Iraq, a land of immense importance to Christianity, and marked a symbolic moment of unity between the world’s two largest religions. Coming amid the coronavirus pandemic and continued violence, the trip also carried with it security and health risks. By drawing large crowds, the pope’s trip could serve to spread the coronavirus. The pop