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Pope returns to Rome after historic Iraq trip
ROME, March 8, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Pope Francis returned to Rome on Monday
following his trip to Iraq, the first ever by a pontiff, according to an AFP
reporter on board his plane.
The 84-year-old’s packed three-day visit passed off without a hitch
despite concerns about security and the coronavirus pandemic.
“Iraq will always remain with me, in my heart,” the pope said as he
concluded his largest Mass and final public event in Iraq on Sunday in Arbil,
the capital of the northern Kurdistan region.
He later met the father of Alan Kurdi, the drowned Syrian Kurdish toddler
who became a symbol of the plight of migrants.
It capped off a trip in which Francis covered more than 1,400 kilometres
(900 miles) inside the conflict-ravaged country.
He brought encouragement to Iraq’s diminished Christian community and
extended a hand to Shiite Muslims by meeting top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali
Sistani.
BSS/AFP/RY/1840hrs