Peace is more powerful than war, Pope tells IS-ravaged Mosul

MOSUL:

Muslim

and

Christian

residents in the ruined Iraqi city of Mosul told

Pope

Francis of their lives under brutal Islamic State terror group’s rule on Sunday as the pontiff blessed their vow to rise up from ashes and told them that “fraternity is more durable than fratricide.”

Francis

flew into the northern city by helicopter to encourage the healing of sectarian wounds and to pray for the dead of any religion.

The 84-year-old pope saw ruins of houses and churches in a square that was the old town’s thriving centre before Mosul was occupied by IS from 2014 to 2017. He sat surrounded by skeletons of buildings, dangling concrete staircases, and cratered ancient churches, most too dangerous to enter. Much of the old city was destroyed in 2017 during the bloody battle by Iraqi forces and an international military coalition to drive out IS.

Francis, who is on a historic first trip by a pope to Iraq, was moved by the earthquake-like devastation around him. He prayed for all of Mosul’s dead. “How cruel it is that this country, the cradle of civilisation, should have been afflicted by so barbarous a blow, with ancient places of worship destroyed and thousands of people — Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and others — forcibly displaced or killed,” he said. “Today, we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace more powerful than war.”