(ANSA) - NASSIRIYA, MARCH 06 - Pope Francis met the highest religious authority of the Shiites of Iraq, the Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani.
The meeting, of a private nature, was held in the house of the religious leader, in the holy city of Najaf, in southern Iraq.
It is one of the main events of Pope Francis' trip to Iraq.
In the interreligious meeting that was subsequently held on the Plain of Ur (Nassiriya), the Pope asked all religious leaders to distance themselves from fundamentalists and terrorism. "God is merciful" and "the most blasphemous offense is to desecrate his name by hating his brother. Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious soul: they are betrayals of religion. And we believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion" For Pope Francis "is up to us - he said addressing all religious leaders, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Yazidis - to clear up the misunderstandings. Let us not allow the light of Heaven to be covered by the clouds of hatred! Over this country, the dark clouds have thickened. of terrorism, war and violence ". (HANDLE).