Pope's historic Iraq visit - 10th March 2021

Head of the Roman Catholic church Pope Francis's historic three day visit to Iraq has come to an end.

It's the first foreign trip the octogenarian pontiff has been able to make in the 15 months since the Covid pandemic began. Despite suffering from a spike in Covid cases and escalating terrorism, Iraq was chosen for the papal visit to allow Francis to reach out to the country's traumatised Christians.

The head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics had an audience with the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's top cleric and spiritual leader of millions of Shia Muslims. The highly symbolic meeting, which took place in the holy city of Najaf, saw the two faith leaders reach across a religious divide to promote peace and unity.

Iraq has seen its Christian population plunge over the last two decades, from 1.5 million to just 250,000. Under the tyranny of the Islamic State terrorist group, many Iraqi Christians lost their lives or were forced to seek refuge abroad.

On Sunday, Francis led prayers in Mosul's Al-Tahera Church, which, along with at least 14 others, was left in ruins by ISIS's campaign to destroy cultural heritage sites.

Pope Francis: "Today we raise our voices in prayer to Almighty God for all the victims of war and armed conflict. Here in Mosul, the tragic consequences of war and hostility are all too evident."

Celebrating mass at the sports stadium of the Kurdistan region's capital of Erbil, the pope spoke of the lasting impression the country had made on him.

Pope Francis: "Now the time draws near for my return to Rome. Yet Iraq will always remain with me, in my heart."