“The road to a full recovery may still be long, but I ask you, please, not to grow discouraged. What is needed is the ability to forgive, but also the courage not to give up,” the pontiff said in remarks at a church in the northern city of Qaraqosh, according to The Associated Press. The city’s predominantly Syriac Catholic population fled after the terrorist group took control in 2014, but began returning after Iraqi and Kurdish forces liberated it in 2016. The church, defaced by IS forces, has been heavily renovated since they were driven out. ADVERTISEMENTIn remarks in Mosul, the region’s biggest city, Francis lamented the group’s attacks on houses of worship and acts of genocide against Christians, other Muslims and Yazidis.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 07, 2021 14:02 UTC