Pope Francis honours massacre victims at Baghdad church

Baghdad: (AP) Pope Francis is honouring the victims of one of Iraq’s most brutal massacres of Christians by Islamic militants by saying their deaths are a reminder that violence is incompatible with authentic religious teaching.

Francis was welcomed joyfully with song and a yellow and white flower necklace as he entered Our Lady of Salvation Cathedral, hours after he arrived in Iraq for the first-ever papal visit.

Francis was praying at the church, where on October 31, 2010, extremists gunned down worshippers in an attack that left 58 people dead. Forty-eight were Catholic, and the Vatican is considering their beatification as martyrs in the first step to possible sainthood. Photos of the 48 adorned the altar where Francis spoke.