Pope Francis expressed his closeness to families who lost loved ones in attacks that took place recently while appealing to the perpetrators to abandon the way of violence.
Pope Francis addressed the recent attacks in Norway, Afghanistan, and Britain on Sunday (October 17) during his weekly blessing in St Peter’s Square.
"Last week, various attacks were carried out, for example, Norway, Afghanistan, England, which caused many dead and wounded," he said.
Five people were killed and three others injured in a bow-and-arrow attack in Kongsberg, Norway last Wednesday (October 13).
The assailant, Espen Andersen Brathen, has admitted to the killings but did not admit guilt, the police reported.
He is now in custody in a medical facility pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Another attack took place in Afghanistan on Friday when three suicide attackers blew up a Shi’ite mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar.
A local hospital reports 63 people were killed and 83 others injured. The Daesh (ISIS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Also on Friday, UK Conservative lawmaker Davis Amess was stabbed to death in a meeting with constituents at Belfairs Methodist Church in Essex.
British authorities have declared the attack as an act of terrorism citing “motivation linked to Islamist extremism.”
The Pope concluded his Sunday Angelus remembering the beatification of Fr. Juan Elías Medina and his 126 companions martyred in hatred of the faith during religious persecution in Spain in the 1930s.
He said, "May their fidelity grant us all strength, especially persecuted Christians in various parts of the world, the strength to witness to the Gospel courageously."
Tags: #PopeFrancis, #terrorism, #Vatican