Pope Francis today reiterated his pain for the suffering caused by wars in the world, while expressing his closeness to Christians in Nigeria after the massacre of almost 200 people on the Christmas weekend.
“Unfortunately, the Christmas celebration in Nigeria was marked by serious acts of violence in Plateau State, which caused numerous victims. I pray for them and their families. “May God free Nigeria from these horrors!” expressed the Holy Father, after concluding the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Nearly 200 Christians were killed between December 23 and 26 in various communities in Nigeria, in an attack attributed to violent Muslim ‘Fulani’ herdsmen.
“And I also pray for those who lost their lives in the explosion of a tanker truck in Liberia,” added Pope Francis, referring to the more than 40 who died on Thursday, December 28, in the town of Totota, in an explosion that also left more of 80 injured.
The Pope then assured that “we continue to pray for the peoples who suffer because of wars: the tormented Ukrainian people, the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, the Sudanese people and many others.”
“At the end of a year, let us have the courage to ask ourselves: how many human lives have been lost due to armed conflicts? How many deaths? And how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty? ”he expressed.
“Whoever has an interest in these conflicts should listen to the voice of conscience,” he said, adding a call not to forget “the tortured Rohingya,” a Muslim-majority ethnic group that suffers persecution in Myanmar.