(CNN) -
Visiting Ur, the ancient Iraqi city where Jews, Christians and Muslims believe their common patriarch Abraham was born, Pope Francis condemned extremism as a "betrayal of religion."
The pontiff visited Ur on Saturday on the second day of the first papal visit to Iraq.
Addressing a meeting of interfaith leaders, Francis condemned the violence that has affected that country in recent years and called for friendship and cooperation between religions.
“All their ethnic and religious communities have suffered.
In particular, I would like to mention the Yazidi community, which has mourned the death of many men and has witnessed thousands of women, girls and boys kidnapped, sold as slaves, subjected to physical violence and forced conversions, ”he said.
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Historic visit of Pope Francis to Iraq
Francis also praised the recovery efforts in northern Iraq, where ISIS destroyed historic sites, churches, monasteries, and other places of worship.
"I think of the young Muslim volunteers in Mosul, who helped repair churches and monasteries, building fraternal friendships on the rubble of hatred, and those Christians and Muslims who today restore mosques and churches together," he said.
Pope Francis attends an interfaith meeting in the city of Ur.
The speech calling for cross-religious cooperation came just hours after the pope held a historic meeting with Shiite Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf.
The 45-minute meeting with al-Sistani, 90, who rarely appears in public, represented one of the most important summits between a pope and a prominent Shiite Muslim figure in recent years.
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During the meeting, broadcast on al-Iraqiya state television, al-Sistani thanked Francis for making an effort to travel to Najaf and told him that Christians in Iraq should live "like all Iraqis in security and peace, and with all their constitutional rights, ”according to a statement issued by the ayatollah's office.
The pope, in turn, thanked al-Sistani and the Shiite Muslim community for “[raising] their voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted, affirming the sacredness of human life and the importance of the unity of the Iraqi people. », According to a statement from the Holy See.
Pope Francis' four-day tour of Iraq through six cities is the pontiff's first trip outside of Italy since the coronavirus pandemic began.
MORE: Francis, the first pope to arrive in Iraq in history.
This was the moment of his arrival
The pope landed in Baghdad on Friday, where he was received by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Francis later met with clergymen and other officials at a Baghdad church that was the site of a bloody massacre in 2010. He returned to Baghdad on Saturday afternoon and is scheduled to celebrate Mass at the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph.
Iraq has imposed a total curfew during the four-day papal visit to minimize health and security risks.
Francisco is scheduled to leave Iraq on Monday.
Francis has met prominent Sunni cleric Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb on several occasions in the past, and is famous for signing a 2019 document pledging "human brotherhood" among the world's religions.
CNN's Tamara Qiblawi, Delia Gallagher, and Aqeel Najm contributed to this article.