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At the conclusion of the mass he celebrated in Erbil on the last day of his visit to Iraq, Pope Francis Abdullah Kurdi met with the father of Syrian Kurdish boy Ilan Kurdi, who drowned while his family tried to flee to Europe, and his picture is became a symbol of the refugee crisis in 2015.
The Vatican Media Office stated in a statement that the Pope “had a long meeting with the man”, listening to his “sorrow at losing his family” and expressing his “deep” sympathy for the suffering of this man.
In 2015, Europe welcomed more than a million people fleeing war and poverty. At that time, the images of migrants crossing Europe and the body of the boy Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach aroused great sympathy, but also fueled controversy over European policies for the reception of migrants and refugees.
On the other hand, Kurdi expressed his “gratitude” for the Pope’s words and his solidarity with his “tragedy and the tragedy of all immigrants” who try to flee their countries to escape wars and in search of “peace and security” , according to the statement.
Ailan, who was three years old and hailed from Ayn al-Arab in northern Syria, drowned with his brother and mother while on a rubber boat across the Aegean. While the family dreamed of settling in Canada, the sole survivor, Father Abdullah, ended up residing in Erbil.
On Sunday night, Pope Francis ended his historic visit to Iraq, from which he departs on Monday, after traveling since Friday between Baghdad, Mosul and Qaraqosh in Nineveh, the Iraqi province that has been severely destroyed by the jihadists, and most of their population has been displaced from Christians and other minorities.
The Pope has for years called for an end to the conflict in Syria that erupted in 2011 and has claimed the lives of more than 387,000 people. “Let us pray and ask for this peace for the entire Middle East, and let us especially think of neighboring Syria in torment,” he said in a speech Saturday in Ur, southern Iraq.
The Pope also met with the Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in Najaf during this tour.
