pope francis is in northern iraq he's
been visiting parts of the country once
held by islamic state militants
it is the third day of his trip to the
country the first ever papal visit to
iraq let's take you live to urbel where
the pontiff is holding a holy mass in
front of many thousands of people
gather at the franco hariri stadium the
number carefully controlled
this stadium can house many tens of
thousands but it's been limited strictly
to ten thousand people all carefully
socially distancing
and most wearing masks there the concern
being that this
could be a potential super spreader
event
while the iraq's christian community is
one of the oldest in the world
has been particularly devastated by the
years of conflict there falling
to around three hundred thousand from
around one and a half million before the
u.s invasion
of 2003.
well earlier in the day pope francis
offered prayers for the victims of war
in the city of mosul where islamic state
militants declared their so-called
caliphate in 2014.
he then met christians in an ancient
church in karakosh
which was all but destroyed by militants
our correspondent mark lowen is
travelling with the pope
well the scars of islamic state
brutality
are clear here at the church of the
immaculate conception in
karakosh this place riddled with bullet
holes
stones were ripped away here as it was
used
for target practice by islamic state
militants when they controlled this
of iraq and yet five years on the pope
is now coming here to give mass a potent
symbol of
rebirth recovery and defiance
earlier in the day he was in mosul the
is stronghold in iraq where he offered a
prayer
for the victims of the war this is a day
focused on paying homage to those who
have suffered in iraq's many conflicts
but also reaching out to the persecuted
christian community in this part
of the country that were fairly numerous
and have declined and have been forced
to flee
or were killed by the sunni extremists
the message from the pope
is that they must remain here and that
they must return
to live in peace and insecurity