Pope Francis holds prayers for Iraq's war victims

Pope Francis prayed for Iraq's war dead and made an emphatic appeal for peaceful coexistence in the country amid the ruins of four demolished churches in Mosul.

Mosul: Pope Francis made a emphatic appeal for peaceful coexistence in Iraq on Sunday as he prayed for the country's war dead amid the ruins of four demolished churches in Mosul, which suffered widespread destruction in the war against the Islamic State group.

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In a scene unimaginable just four years ago, the pontiff mounted a stage in a city square surrounded by the remnants of four heavily damaged churches belonging to some of Iraq's myriad Christian rites and denominations.

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He deviated from his prepared speech to address the plight of Iraq's Yazidi minority, which was subjected to mass killings, abductions and sexual slavery at the hands of IS.

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The square where he spoke is home to four different churches — Syro-Catholic, Armenian-Orthodox, Syro-Orthodox and Chaldean — each of them left in ruins.

AP