(AINA) -- His Eminence The Cardinal Philip Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, France, visited Baghdede (Qaraqosh/Hamdaniya) on Tuesday and met with clergy and the refugees from Mosul. The Archbishop was accompanied by Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, Bishop Michel Dubost, Bishop of Évry, Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, Director of the Action of East (l'Œuvre d'Orient), Archbishop Joseph Thomas, head of the diocese of Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah for the Chaldean Church and Archbishop Emil Nona, head of Mosul's Chaldean Catholics. They were welcomed with heartfelt respect by head of the Mosul diocese, Syriac Catholic Mar Youhana Boutros Moshi.

After the welcoming ceremony the delegation went to the Church of the Immaculate Conception where the townspeople were waiting.

Archbishop Moshi thanked the visiting guests for their solidarity with the Christians in Iraq. He spoke of the recent conditions experienced by the people of the city and praised the people of Baghdede in receiving the refugees from Mosul, sheltering them in their homes and providing them with assistance.

Archbishop Barbarin emphasized in his speech the stand of the Church in Lyon with the Iraqis and the Christians and remembered his first visit to Iraq. He linked the diocese of Lyon with the Syriac Catholic diocese of Mosul and likened them as twins.

In his speech Patriarch Sako emphasized the firmness of the Christian presence Iraq, and that they are the indigenous people of Iraq.

In attendance was the head of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization who briefly met with the Archbishop.