Baghdad, SAEDNEWS: The 84-year-old, travelling under tight security, led a prayer service "for the victims of the war" in Mosul, an ancient crossroads whose centre was reduced to rubble by fierce fighting to oust the Islamic State group.
Francis said that the exodus of Christians from Iraq and the broader Middle East "does incalculable harm not just to the individuals and communities concerned, but also to the society they leave behind."
The visit to Mosul follows an interfaith rally on Saturday where the pope reinforced his message of inter-religious tolerance and fraternity during the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, a country riven by religious and ethnic divisions.
"We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion," Francis said as he urged Iraq’s Muslim and Christian religious leaders to put aside animosities and work together for peace and unity.
Pope Francis' trip to Iraq as a "pilgrim of peace" aims to reassure the country's ancient, but dwindling, Christian community and to expand his dialogue with other religions.
The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics on Saturday met Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who agreed that Iraq's Christians should be able to live in "peace".
"We all hope that this visit will be a good omen for the Iraqi people," Adnane Youssef, a Christian from northern Iraq, told AFP. "We hope that it will lead to better days."
The Christian community of Iraq, a Muslim-majority country of 40 million, has shrunk from 1.5 million before the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein to only 400,000 now, about one percent of the population.
"This very important visit will boost our morale after years of difficulties, problems and wars," said an Iraqi Christian leader, Father George Jahoula (Source: France 24).
Pope Francis Historic Meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Iraq
