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- During his visit to northern Iraq, Pope Francis denounced the abuse of power and corruption at a mass in front of thousands of believers.
- “The ominous influence over power and money needs to be eradicated from our hearts and from the church,” the 84-year-old said at the football stadium in the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
- Before the fair, he drove around the stadium in the “Papa-Mobil” to the cheers of the many people who had come to see him.
He also called for the solidarity of the faithful. “We have to feel responsible and not just watch when brother or sister suffer,” he said. The mass marked the end of the Iraqi tour of the leader of the Catholic Church. Before that, Francis visited Christians in northern Iraq, where he was hailed by crowds of believers.
Erbil became a place of refuge for many Christians as the Islamic State terrorist militia captured more and more cities in northern Iraq. About six years ago, the city withstood the attacks with the help of an alliance of Kurdish fighters and the United States when the Islamists had advanced 40 kilometers from Erbil.
Pope meets Alan Kurdi’s father
Also, on the last day of his trip to Iraq, Pope Francis met with the father of the dead refugee boy Alan Kurdi. The photo of the boy, whose body was washed up on a beach in Turkey in 2015, went around the world at the height of the refugee crisis. The Vatican announced that Francis met Abdullah Kurdi at the Erbil football stadium after Mass. Francis expressed his condolences to Kurdi for losing his family. Little Alan’s father thanked the leader of the Catholic Church for his words.
Alan Kurdi, then two years old, appeared on the shores of Turkey on September 2, 2015. Abdullah Kurdi and his family tried to reach the Greek island of Kos by boat from Turkey. The ship capsized. Kurdi’s wife and their two young children drowned.
Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq came to an end on Sunday. Francis will go down in history as the first Pope to visit Iraq. On the trip he had repeatedly asked for peaceful coexistence and solidarity between religions. He was supposed to travel back to Rome on Monday.
