Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church, who is visiting Iraq in the Middle East, prays to the victims in front of the destroyed church in Mosul in the north, which is dominated by the extremist organization IS = Islamic State, and eradicates violence. I appealed.
Pope Francis visited Mosul in northern Iraq on the 7th, under the control of the extremist organization IS for three years from 2014, where debris from buildings destroyed by battles remains.
In the square in front of the destroyed church, Pope Francis prayed to the victims, saying, "Many people have been displaced, killed and suffering from cruelty."
He called for the eradication of violence, saying, "I am convinced that hope and peace are stronger than hatred and war."
After this, Pope Francis visited Karakosh, a town where many Christians live, and encouraged those who were released from the rule of IS and returned to the town from the evacuation site, and called for the reconstruction and reconciliation of their lives.
Before the 2003 Iraq War, there were about 1.5 million minority Christians in Iraq, but many fled the country due to the sectarian conflict and the rise of IS, and now there are hundreds of thousands. It is decreasing.
Pope Francis held a mass at the stadium in Erbil in the north on the evening of the 7th, ending his first visit to Iraq, which was the first trip in about a year and three months due to the spread of the new coronavirus.