Pope asks Iraq leaders to use dialogue to avoid further warfare

June 29, 2014: Pope Francis greets Monsignor Leonard Paul Blair, Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut, after bestowing to him the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing their bond to the pope, during a mass in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican. (AP)

Pope Francis asked Iraq leaders to use dialogue to avoid further warfare there, during his weekly address in St. Peter's Square after Mass -- his first major public ceremony since health problems forced a spate of canceled appointments.

"The news from Iraq is unfortunately very saddening. I join the bishops from that country in calling on the rulers to preserve national unity and avoid war through dialogue," he said. "I express my closeness to the thousands of families, especially the Christian ones, who have had to leave their homes and are in serious danger. Violence generates more violence. Dialogue is the only path to peace. Let's pray to the Virgin Mary to look after the Iraqi people."

Francis appeared to hold up well during the more than 90-minute Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to honor Saints Peter and Paul.

The Vatican has played down the cancellations, including one last-minute on Friday because 77-year-old Francis had an unspecified "mild" health problem.

The Vatican has played down the cancellations, including one at the last minute on Friday, attributing them without elaboration to some mild health problem.

Francis, often chuckling, chatted with each of 24 archbishops kneeling before him to receive a white woolen band symbolizing shared episcopal power.

Francis then did what he has started doing recently when greeting the public -- asking for prayers for him, too.  `'Please don't forget to pray for me," he said.

These requests for prayers, combined with his recent quip that a pope's job could be unhealthy and the cancellation of several appointments in the last few weeks, fueled concern that perhaps Francis was seriously ill.

The Vatican insisted on Friday `'there are no reasons to worry about the pope's health."

June 29 is a Roman holiday, and for the occasion, Francis granted an hour-long interview to the city's daily paper Il Messaggero.

`'I found him in great shape," his interviewer, Franca Giansoldati, told Sky TG24 TV Sunday. `'Not so tired, no aspect that would mirror the alarm these days" about his health.

In the interview, Francis was quoted as saying he has learned a Roman dialect expression: `'Live and let live."

Francis also decried corruption, and child prostitution for clients `'who could be their grandfathers," during the interview.

`'The changing of an epoch feeds moral decadence, not only in politics but in financial and social" spheres, he told the newspaper.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.