'Salam, salam, salam': thousands attend Pope's mass at Irbil stadium

Thousands of people filled a sports stadium in the northern Kurdish-Iraqi city of Irbil for an open-air mass held by Pope Francis.

An estimated 10,000 people erupted in cheers when he arrived and did a lap around the track in his open-sided popemobile, the first and only time he has used it on this trip due to security concerns.

During the mass, which was the final event of the Pope's visit to Iraq, the pontiff declared that the church in the country was 'alive'.