Patriarch urges pope to visit Iraq

(ANSA) Antwerp, September 8 - The Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, Mar Louis Raphal I Sako, urged Pope Francis Monday to visit war-torn Iraq.
    "He, not me, said that he is willing to go where people need him," Sako said on the fringes of an international peace meeting organized by the ecumenical peacemaking Sant'Egidio Community in Antwerp.
    "And I say that we need his presence, his visit," the patriarch said. "He need not be afraid, we are there, so his life is like our life. He is our father and a father not only thinks and says words to encourage his children, but is also near to them. "Closeness and presence are something special," said the patriarch.
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