Thread by @AFP

#BREAKING Pope meets top Iraq Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani

#UPDATES Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top religious authority for most Shiite Muslims, hosts the head of the world's Catholics, Pope Francis, in the shrine city of Najaf
Sistani almost never holds meetings but made an exception for Francis

Pope Francis extends his hand to the world's Shiite Muslims, meeting top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in a landmark moment in modern religious history
The two met at Sistani's humble home in the shrine city of Najaf u.afp.com/UGXF

#BREAKING Sistani tells Pope Iraq Christians should live in 'peace': statement

#UPDATES Sistani "affirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with their full constitutional rights," a statement from his office says

The meeting between Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani lasts 50 minutes, with Sistani's office putting out a statement shortly afterwards thanking Francis, 84, for visiting the holy city of Najaf u.afp.com/UGXF

#BREAKING Pope Francis prays for 'peace, unity' in Middle East, 'especially Syria

#UPDATE Pope Francis condemns violent religious extremism during an interfaith prayer service at the site of the ancient city of Ur, where the Prophet Abraham is thought to have been born

#UPDATE The congregation at the interfaith prayer service in Ur, included members of religious minorities persecuted under the Islamic State group's three-year rule of much of northern Iraq

VIDEO: Iraq's religious minorities were in attendance as Pope Francis hosted an interfaith service in the ancient city of Ur

#UPDATE Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader of most of the world's Shiite Muslims, has told Pope Francis in a historic meeting in Iraq that the country's Christians should live in "peace"
u.afp.com/UGBF

#BREAKING Pope holds first public mass of Iraq trip in Baghdad

VIDEO: Pope Francis delivers the first public mass of his Iraq trip, to a sparse gathering of faithful and officials at Saint Joseph Cathedral in central Baghdad