VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Sunday recalled the terrible events of last Thursday in Nice, France, when a Tunisian French national plowed a heavy truck into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day, killing 84 people, including 10 children.
Speaking to faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square after the Sunday Angelus, the Pope said: “The pain of the massacre … which mowed down so many innocent lives, even many children, is still alive in our hearts. I am close to each family and the entire French nation as they mourn,” he added.
Before calling on the faithful to pray for the victims and their families in silence, Pope Francis said: “May God, the good Father, welcome all the victims into his peace, support the injured and comfort their families. May he dissolve every project of terror and death, so that no man may any longer dare to spill his brother’s blood.”
Here below is an English translation of the Pope’s words.
Dear brothers and sisters,
The pain of the massacre last Thursday evening in Nice, which mowed down so many innocent lives, even many children, is still alive in our hearts. I am close to each family and the entire French nation as they mourn. May God, the good Father, welcome all the victims into his peace, support the injured and comfort their loved ones; may He break up every plot of terror and death, so that no man may any longer dare to spill his brother’s blood. I offer a paternal and fraternal embrace to all the inhabitants of Nice and the whole French nation. And now, all together, let us pray as we think of this massacre, the victims, and the families. Let us first pray in silence…
Ave Maria …
Diane Montagna is Rome correspondentfor Aleteia’s English edition.
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