SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Pope Francis made a plea for peace on Saturday, saying he hoped the world would “journey from conflict to unity” as he paid a visit to the ancient city of Ur.
Francis visited the ruins of Ur city in southern Iraq, after his meeting with Iraq’s top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani earlier on Saturday.
Ur is revered as the birthplace of Abraham, father of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
“Let us ask for this in praying for the whole Middle East. Here I think especially of neighboring war-torn Syria,” he said in remarks during an interreligious service in Ur.
After flying back to Baghdad, he is expected to say Mass at the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph.
Pope Francis began his most risky foreign trip on Friday, flying into Iraq amid the tightest security ever seen for a papal visit to appeal to the country’s leaders and people to end militant violence and religious strife.
The country has deployed thousands of security personnel to protect him during the visit, which comes after a spate of rocket and suicide bomb attacks and a spike in COVID-19 cases.
The 84-year-old Francis, limping from what appeared to be a fresh flare-up of his painful sciatica, made an impassioned call for Iraqis to finally give peacemakers a chance during a gathering of Iraqi officials and diplomats at the presidential palace.
