Pope Francis asked his right-hand man to travel to Iraq to spend Christmas there.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin spent a total of four days there, attending both political and religious meetings. He even met with President Barham Salih.
He was accompanied at all times by the patriarch of Baghdag, Cardinal Luis Rafael Sako, and the nuncio in Iraq, Alberto Ortega.
The cardinal also visited the Nineveh Plains, where Christians were expelled by ISIS.
While there, Pietro Parolin thanked those who have returned to their homes and requested that the pain they suffered not turn into rancor. In this way, just as with the suffering the martyrs endured, what they have experienced will produce much fruit.
