Solemn tributes: Erbil's Christians honor Pope Francis
Shafaq News/ A memorial prayer for the late Pope Francis was held on Friday at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Ankawa, Erbil’s Christian-majority district.
The ceremony brought together various Christian denominations, including Assyrians and Chaldeans, and was led by Archbishop Bashar Matti.
Worshippers gathered in a solemn atmosphere to honor the head of the Catholic Church, regarded by Catholics as the successor of Saint Peter and the supreme spiritual leader of the global Church.
Earlier, a similar memorial mass took place at St. Joseph’s Chaldean Church in Baghdad, where clergy and congregants prayed beneath a portrait of the late pope placed alongside the Iraqi flag—a tribute to his 2021 visit to Iraq.
Pope Francis passed away on April 21 after months of illness. He had been hospitalized several times and died in his apartment at the Vatican.
