ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Former Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on Wednesday hailed Kurdistan as the “cradle of peaceful religious co-existence,” during an event celebrating the unity among the Region’s diverse religious communities.

“This gathering aims to make the world familiar with the [Kurdistan Region’s] rich culture of co-existence,” said President Bazani during the Kurdistan National Prayer Breakfast event in Erbil.

The first-of-its-kind gathering aimed at promoting and highlighting co-existence and unity among the Kurdistan Region’s different religious components.

At least 400 guests from Iraq and beyond attended the event, including diplomats, lawmakers, and religious leaders from multiple faiths, including Islam, Christianity, and Yazidism.

Speaking at the Kurdistan National Prayer Breakfast event, President Masoud Barzani recited a verse from the holy Quran’s Al-Hujrat chapter

“O humanity! Indeed, we created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may ˹get to˺ know one… pic.twitter.com/bXPfvPQeyq

— The New Region (@thenewregion) April 23, 2025

President Barzani also renewed condolences over the death of the Pope during his speech, saying “We share our sorrows with the entire world over the passing of Pope Francis.”

Pope Francis died on Monday morning at the age of 88 after grappling with pneumonia.

Pope Francis had been severely ill with pneumonia in recent months, yet still managed to make a public address on Easter Sunday to worshipers from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

The late Pope visited the Kurdistan Region in 2021, meeting with Kurdish leaders and expressing his gratitude to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for their efforts to protect Christians during the war with the Islamic State (ISIS).

During his historic visit to Erbil, he addressed a crowd of 10,000 at the Franso Hariri stadium, celebrating Christians in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and urging interfaith tolerance.

Speaking at Wednesday’s event, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the Chaldean Patriarch in Baghdad, hailed the Kurdistan Region as a “civilized” Region that has become a haven for Christians who fled persecution and violence in other parts of Iraq.

“Thanks to the Kurdistan Region for the continuous efforts for peaceful and truthful co-existence and for establishing a civilized atmosphere,” Sako said. “The Kurdistan Region has played a central role in establishing peace.”

Iraqi Christians, among the nation’s oldest religious communities, have faced decades of violence, displacement, and marginalization, reducing their population from 1.5 million before 2003 to approximately 250,000 today.

Challenges include being the target of terrorist attacks, property disputes, and lack of rebuilding efforts in war-torn areas like Mosul and the Nineveh Plains.