Pope offers prayers for mosque shooting victims

17 March 2019, 2:50 pm

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Pope Francis offers prayers for “our Muslim brothers” killed in the attack against two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Francis in his traditional Sunday prayer says that the mosque attack victims were added “to the pain wars and conflicts that don’t cease to afflict humanity.”

Francis leads the faithful in a silent prayer “for our Muslim brothers who were killed” and renewed “an invitation to unite in prayer and gestures of peace to oppose hatred and violence.”

Flower rest at a road block, as two police officer stands guard near the makeshift memorial near the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday, March 16, 2019. (AP/Vincent Thian)

The public prayers follow a telegram of condolences sent after the Friday attacks that claimed 50 victims in which the pontiff denounced “the senseless acts of violence.”

A 28-year-old white supremacist from Australia is suspected of carrying out the worst terror attack in New Zealand’s modern history.

— AP