03/07/2021 11:48
Clarín.com
World
Updated 03/07/2021 11:48 AM
Pope Francis concluded his three-day visit to Iraq with a massive mass celebrated in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, in
which he invited the 10,000 faithful present not to fall into revenge
, despite the wounds of war and violence. .
"Here in Iraq, how many of your brothers and sisters, friends and fellow citizens bear the wounds of war and violence, visible and invisible wounds. The temptation is to respond to these and other painful events with human strength, with human wisdom. "Francis said in his homily.
The pope celebrated mass in the second largest stadium in the country, the "Franso Hariri" in Erbil,
with a capacity for 30,000 people
, although due to the pandemic it was decided that only a third of the capacity could attend.
The songs accompanied the pope upon his arrival in popemobile to the stadium, the only place during this entire trip where he
has been able to use this open vehicle
, since in the rest of the acts he has been transferred in armored cars for safety.
"We need to remove from our hearts and from the Church the dire suggestions of power and money. To clean our hearts we need to get our hands dirty, feel responsible and not stand idly by while brother and sister suffer," the pope said.
The Argentine pontiff added that Jesus "strengthens us so that we know how to resist the temptation to seek revenge, something that
plunges us into an endless spiral of reprisals."
"With the power of the Holy Spirit, he sends us not to proselytize, but as his missionary disciples, men and women called to bear witness that the Gospel has the power to change lives," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced persons
from the Nineveh Plain who fled the invasion of the Islamic State jihadists in 2014 took refuge in Kurdistan, a region in northern Iraq that is home to the majority of the 1.3 million displaced people there are. in Iraq.
"Many of you have generously offered concrete help and solidarity to the poor and those who suffer," he recalled.
"This is one of the reasons that have prompted me
to come as a pilgrim
among you, to thank you and confirm you in faith and witness. Today, I can see and feel that the Church of Iraq is alive, that Christ lives and acts in this people of his, holy and faithful, "he confessed.
With this mass, the pope concluded his trip to Iraq, where he has held historical appointments, such as the meeting he had with Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, the highest religious authority of the Shiites, and
the visit to Ur of the Chaldeans
, where tradition indicates that the prophet Abraham was born.
Today, the pope went to Mosul to pray for the victims of the wars in the rubble of a city devastated by jihadists and to Qaraqosh, where he celebrated the Angelus with the Christian community that has been returning to the area after the defeat of the jihadists.
Source: EFE
PB
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