Pope Francis began a historic visit to Iraq on March 5, It is the first by a pontiff to the birthplace of the Eastern churches from where more than a million Christians have fled over the past 20 years. Pope Francis prayed for “victims of war” outside a ruined church in Iraq’s Mosul, where ISIL ravaged one of the world’s oldest Christian communities until its defeat three years ago. He also tweeted, “God can bring peace to this land”. The pope, who in 2019 inaugurated a new phase of interfaith dialogue between the Roman Church and Islam, also visited Najaf to meet Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is the highest Shia authority in Iraq where Shia Muslims represent about 70 per cent of the total population. Images showed that neither of the two were wearing masks. While the pope has been vaccinated and encouraged others to get the jab, Sistani's office has not announced his vaccination.
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