The 84-year-old pontiff covered more than 1,400 kilometres inside the country, bringing encouragement to its diminished Christian community and extending a hand to Shiite Muslims by meeting top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani

Iraq's President Barham Saleh (C-R) and his wife Sarbagh (C-L) escort Pope Francis (C) during the farewell ceremony for the pontiff at the Iraqi capital's Baghdad International Airport on March 8, 2021.

Pope Francis departs Iraq after historic visit

He will say Mass at a Baghdad church, meet Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric in the southern city of Najaf and travel north to Mosul, where the army had to empty the streets for security reasons last year for a visit by Iraq’s prime minister

Pope Francis boards the plane for his visit to Iraq, at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, March 5, 2021.

Pope Francis arrives in Baghdad for risky, historic Iraq tour

The pope, making his first foreign trip since the coronavirus pandemic swept Europe a year ago, will arrive in Iraq on Friday before embarking on a packed schedule of events through to Sunday

Francis is fulfilling the dream of a predecessor, John Paul II, by visiting Iraq

Pope says he will visit Iraq as 'pilgrim of peace'

They received 50,000 Sinopharm vaccines

Women walk in a deserted street during a curfew to contain spike in Covid-19 cases, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra

Iraq receives first Covid vaccines, gift from China

Pope Francis scheduled to visit Iraq on March 5

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Iraq on March 5-8, his first-ever visit to the country

Virus lockdown won’t affect Pope Francis’ trip

Increase in ISIS attacks highlights importance of NATO presence, says NATO chief

Stoltenberg: We want to make sure that we have a lasting political agreement that enables us to leave

NATO to send up to 3,500 more troops to Iraq

The firing of more than a dozen rockets in the northwest of the Kurdish regional capital Arbil on Monday wounded at least 14 people, as well as fatally injuring a contractor working for the US military

A damaged wall is seen after the rocket attack on US-led forces in and near Erbil International Airport, in Erbil, Iraq February 16, 2021.

Western allies condemn Iraq rocket attack

Currently, the NATO mission only trains and advises members of the Iraqi security institutions and forces who are under the direct control of the Iraqi government

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg briefs media after a meeting of the Alliance's ambassadors over the security situation in the Middle East, in Brussels, Belgium January 6, 2020.

NATO to agree larger Iraq training force as violence rises

Washington has supported another Kurdish militia in Syria that Turkey sees as an offshoot of the PKK

Erdogan's comments came a day after Ankara said Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels had killed 13 captives

Erdogan accuses US of backing 'terrorists' in Iraq

The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkey and much of the international community, has for decades used Iraq's mountainous areas as a springboard for its insurgency against the Turkish state

The Turkish army regularly conducts cross-border operations and air raids on PKK bases in northern Iraq

Pope Francis departs Iraq after historic visit

Pope Francis arrives in Baghdad for risky, historic Iraq tour

Pope says he will visit Iraq as 'pilgrim of peace'

Iraq receives first Covid vaccines, gift from China

Virus lockdown won’t affect Pope Francis’ trip

NATO to send up to 3,500 more troops to Iraq

Western allies condemn Iraq rocket attack

NATO to agree larger Iraq training force as violence rises

Erdogan accuses US of backing 'terrorists' in Iraq

Three Turkish soldiers killed in northern Iraq

# iraq en

Pope Francis departs Iraq after historic visit

Pope Francis arrives in Baghdad for risky, historic Iraq tour

Pope says he will visit Iraq as 'pilgrim of peace'

Iraq receives first Covid vaccines, gift from China

Virus lockdown won’t affect Pope Francis’ trip

NATO to send up to 3,500 more troops to Iraq

Western allies condemn Iraq rocket attack

NATO to agree larger Iraq training force as violence rises

Erdogan accuses US of backing 'terrorists' in Iraq

Three Turkish soldiers killed in northern Iraq