this is d. w. news line from berlin pope francis delivers a message of unity on the 2nd day of his historic visit to iraq he met with the country's top shiite cleric grand ayatollah ali al sistani and hosted an interfaith meeting where he condemned religious extremism the pontiff host encourage iraq's muslim and christian communities to work together for peace also coming up. now on marcy's another day of anger and unrest and tycoon protesters clashed with police as outraged mounts over the desecration of a group of

a teenage demonstrator killed in the unrest. a mickle fairly welcome to the program it's day 2 of pope francis historic visit to iraq he's aiming to rally the country's minority christian community whose numbers have dropped drastically after years of war and persecution the pontiff began the day and the holy city of najaf were he had a private meeting with one of iraq's most powerful shiite leaders grand ayatollah ali al sistani. a meeting that was months in the making every detail carefully planned after a photo op the 2 men spoke privately for 40 minutes the ayatollah reportedly telling the pope he also believes christians should be able to live in peace in iraq and enjoy the same rights as other iraqis it's

a powerful statement from sistan he who rarely makes his opinions known when he does shiites in iraq and around the world take note. later the pope arrived in the ancient city of moore known as the birthplace of abraham the biblical patriarch revered by christians muslims and jews a fitting place for an interfaith meeting where francis underscored his message for . peace does not demand winners or losers but rather brothers and sisters who for all the misunderstandings and hurts of the past are journeying from conflict to unity. in praying for peace in the middle east the pope singled out syria ravaged by a decade of civil war and he condemned religious extremists who used terrorism to

achieve their aims. on sunday pope francis will see firsthand the destruction left behind by the terrorist islamic state when he visits the group's former stronghold in the northern iraqi city of mosul. now i'm joined by journalist owen holdaway his an arab bail following the papal visit heigho and the pope met with one of the most powerful figures and shiite islam grand ayatollah ali al sistani why was this meeting so important. i think it's extremely important because as you say he's one of the most powerful shiite leaders in the not just in iraq iran that ram whole middle east so i think the meeting of them to give a joint message of unity and was streaming important you know and also signals a lot of that ship follows that you know to actually go along with that.