Pope Francis (R) seen in front of the ruins of The Syriac Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mosul, Iraq, on March 7, 2021. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images Pope Francis prayed to crowds in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Sunday, calling for peace and tolerance. Many of the city's churches were destroyed by IS during the occupation, which ran from 2014 to 2017. More than 1 million Christians have fled Iraq since the start of the 2003 Iraq War and the rise of IS. Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories. As part of a historic visit to Iraq, Pope Francis has led prayers amid the ruins of churches destroyed by the Islamic State.The Pope, who on Friday became the first pontiff ever to visit the war-weary country, traveled to Mosul, a city with 1,800 years of Christian history, on Sunday.Mosul was the center of IS operations in northern Iraq from 2014 until its liberation in July 2017.