Pope Francis departs Iraq after historic trip: AFP

Kathmandu : Pope Francis concluded on Monday the first-ever papal trip to Iraq, which went off without a hitch despite security worries and a second wave of coronavirus cases in the country.

The 84-year-old pontiff covered more than 1,400 kilometres (900 miles) inside the country, bringing encouragement to its diminished Christian population and reaching out to the Shiite Muslim majority through a meeting with top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.