The Vatican office issued a statement on the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in the holy city of Najaf.

Iraq's senior shi�ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemned on Thursday U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. '�This decision is condemned and decried, it hurt the feelings of hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims,�' said a statement from Sistani's office.

Iraq's top Shi�ite cleric opposes the secession of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, his representative said in a Friday sermon on his behalf, in the religious leader's first comments on the Kurds' decision to back independence in a referendum.

Sihekh Abdullah Al-Dakkak denied news circulated on news websites, about a call conducted between the religious authority Ayatollah Sayed Ali Sistani, and Bahrain King, over the trial of Sheikh Isa Qassim.

Bahrain�s leading Shia cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim received phone call from Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Al-Sistani.