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Baghdad (dpa) - For Pope Francis, the visit to the Christian community in northern Iraq is one of the most important parts of his trip to the country on Sunday.
In the past few years, people have longed for a visit from the head of the Catholic Church.
The day tour is intended to take the Pope to places associated with the fight against the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).
In the late afternoon, the final chord of the trip is to be set with a mass in front of thousands of believers in the football stadium in Erbil, capital of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan.
Among other things, the Pope is supposed to visit Mosul in the Ninawa plain.
Through the rule of IS, the city became a symbol of the suffering of Christians in Iraq.
IS fighters took control of the metropolis in 2014.
Many Christians fled because they were about to die.
Between 2016 and 2017, Iraqi forces recaptured the city with the support of the international military coalition.
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In the heavy fighting, Mosul was badly damaged.
Francis wants to pray for the victims of the war on the Chush al-Bia church square.
The terrorists destroyed the churches there between 2014 and 2017.
There is still debris in the area.
On the same day, Francis wants to travel to the nearby small town of Karakosh.
Here, too, people look back on a dark past with death and persecution by terrorists.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, where Francis wants to meet Christians, was massively destroyed between 2014 and 2016 and symbolizes the suffering of the local community.
It was considered the largest church in the Syrian Catholic Church.
There was room for around 2500 people.
Tens of thousands fled IS in the direction of Erbil or sought protection abroad.
In the Kurdish capital Erbil, Francis finally wants to celebrate the end of his visit with a large mass in the city's football stadium.
Around 10,000 tickets were available for the event - a mass event in the middle of the corona pandemic.
The Pope and his companions are vaccinated against the corona virus.
Nevertheless, the entire visit of the Holy Father at a time when the pandemic is raging again in Iraq, caused criticism.
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For the Christians in Iraq, the Pope's visit is, so to speak, an event of the century.
John Paul II had already planned to travel to the holy places of Christianity as part of a pilgrimage in 2000 and also to the plain of Ur in southern Iraq.
The then ruler Saddam Hussein forbade the visit.
Francis is the first Pope to visit the country with more than 38 million inhabitants.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210307-99-719748 / 3