[ad_1]
On Wednesday, Pope Francis expressed his sentiment of “gratitude” after his historic visit to Iraq, during his weekly address on Wednesday, during which he referred extensively to this trip.
“After this visit, my soul fills with gratitude,” said the Pope. Gratitude to God and to all those who made this visit possible ”, highlighting Iraqi President Barham Salih, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi, the patriarchs and bishops of the country, and the Shiite reference Ali al-Sistani, with whom I had an unforgettable meeting with him at his residence in Najaf, as the Pope said.
The Pope added: “The Iraqi people have the right to live in peace and the right to once again find the dignity that belongs to them. Its religious and cultural roots go back thousands of years: Mesopotamia is the cradle of civilization ”, as stated on the official Vatican website. He said that all this heritage was destroyed by the war, denouncing the sale of arms in the world.
He explained: “War is always the beast that changes, with changing times, and continues to devour humanity … But the answer to war is not another war, and the answer to weapons is not other weapons.”
He added: “The answer is brotherhood. This is the challenge facing Iraq, but not only: it is the challenge for many conflict zones and therefore brotherhood is the challenge for the whole world.
On Monday, Pope Francis returned to Rome after a three-day visit to Iraq, the first by a great pontiff to this country, which is still experiencing security tensions.
The Pope traveled from Baghdad to Mosul and Qaraqosh, the northern Christian city whose people suffered the ravages of the terrorist organization “ISIS”. And he addressed the issue of one of the oldest and most widespread Christian societies in the world, with the Shiite reference, Sistani.
In the last public stage of his historic visit to Iraq, Pope Francis presided over a ceremonial mass last Sunday in Erbil, Kurdistan, bidding farewell to Iraqis saying: “Iraq will remain with me and in my heart.”
