In the country of Georgia, there are three different rites of Catholics: Latin, Armenian and Syro-Chaldean. This last group has its roots in Syria and Iraq, where their largest communities reside. In Georgia, there are about 10,000 people belonging to this rite and the pope wanted to meet with them to pray for peace in the Middle East. ;
The pope visited them in the Catholic Chaldean Church of St. Simon Bar Sabbae, where he was greeting with chants in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. They adorned the pope with the stole used by priests of this rite and in the written prayer for the occasion, Pope Francis remembered the persecuted Christians, those exiled and the refugees, and called for peace in Syria and Iraq.
POPE FRANCIS
'Raise up Iraq and Syria from devastation; ;reunite your dispersed children under your gentle kingship: sustain Christians in the Diaspora and grant them the unity of faith and love.'
When finished, the pope individually greeted the bishops of the Syro-Chaldean rite, who are mostly from Iraq.
After meeting with Patriarch Louis Sako for a few minutes, Pope Francis left the Church to make this symbolic gesture of releasing a white dove of peace.
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