The death of Pope Francis has sent shockwaves through Iraq’s Christian community, where his presence once brought hope after one of the darkest chapters in the country’s recent history.

For over 850 years, the leaning minaret of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri stood as an iconic landmark in the Iraqi city of Mosul until it was destroyed by the Islamic State group in 2017.

The Indiana National Guard says a 34-year-old soldier serving in Iraq has died in a non-combat incident.

The U.N. cultural agency has discovered five bombs hidden within the walls of the historic al-Nouri Mosque in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Archaeologists in northern Iraq have unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees, dating back to the Assyrian Empire.

The United Nations’ cultural agency has opened an exhibit detailing plans to restore multicultural landmarks in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Following a Mass on Sunday in the Iraqi city of Irbil, Francis met with Abdullah Kurdi and spent a long time with him, the Vatican said. Through an interpreter, the pope listened to Kurdi’s story and expressed sympathy for the loss of his family. Francis issued the appeal during a joyful visit to the Christian community of Qaraqosh, on the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako said Francis’ visit to Iraq was “miraculous” and had already borne fruits. AdChristian and Muslim leaders in Mosul have welcomed Pope Francis' visit to the Iraqi city devastated by war and are calling on Christians who fled the Islamic State group's onslaught to return.

Pope Francis celebrates mass at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Irbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Sunday, March 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)IRBIL – Pope Francis urged Iraq’s Christians on Sunday to forgive the injustices against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community’s historic heartland, which was nearly erased by the Islamic State group’s horrific reign. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, was at the heart of the IS so-called “caliphate” and witnessed the worst of the group’s rule inflicted on Muslims, Christians and others, including beheadings and mass killings. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, became IS’s bureaucratic and financial backbone. Things are difficult for those living here.”At Qaraqosh, Francis urged its residents to continue to dream, and forgive.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis will make a pilgrimage to Iraq in March, pandemic conditions permitting, the Vatican said Monday, in announcing what would be the pontiff's first trip abroad in more than a year. The Vatican said Francis had accepted invitations from the Iraqi government from the local Catholic church. It wasn't immediately clear if the pope would travel if he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 before the trip. In mid-2019, Francis told Catholic aid agencies that he planned on traveling to Iraq in 2020. While then ailing, he had wanted to go to Iraq in 1999, but, according to the Vatican, the pilgrimage never happened because then-dictator Saddam Hussein postponed it.

Edward Gallagher is accused of stabbing a wounded teenage ISIS fighter in the neck in Mosul in May 2017. A Navy judge has removed the lead prosecutor in the case against a Navy SEAL charged with murdering a wounded person and shooting at(CNN) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered top Navy officials to rescind medals awarded to the prosecutors who unsuccessfully tried Navy SEAL team leader Eddie Gallagher for murder. The President said the Navy lawyers had been "ridiculously given a Navy Achievement Medal." "I have directed the Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer & Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson to immediately withdraw and rescind the awards," Trump tweeted. The Secretary of the Navy is pulling the medals awarded to the Navy prosecution team, a Navy official told CNN.

Edward Gallagher is accused of stabbing a wounded teenage ISIS fighter in the neck in Mosul in May 2017. A Navy judge has removed the lead prosecutor in the case against a Navy SEAL charged with murdering a wounded person and shooting at(CNN) - Prosecutors in the military trial of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, accused of committing multiple violations of military law in Iraq, rested their case Tuesday. But by week's end, one of the prosecution's own witnesses dropped a bombshell, testifying that he was the one responsible for the ISIS fighter's death. After the prosecution rested, the court-martial members, who act as a jury, were dismissed from the courtroom. The judge denied the motion, and the trial will continue Wednesday at 12 p.m.