Pope calls for security in South Caucasus

In his Christmas message at the midday "Urbi et Orbi" blessing on Christmas Day, Pope Francis prays for world peace and calls for every effort to stop violence and help those who are suffering, Report informs, citing Vatican News.

May Armenia and Azerbaijan draw closer to a definitive peace, he prayed, especially through humanitarian outreach and the return of refugees to their homes in security and with respect for religious traditions and places of worship.

The Pope prayed for the people of the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa, Sudan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan—all places where tensions are high, but peace is possible with goodwill and hard efforts.

May the "fraternal bonds" be strengthened on the Korean peninsula, the Pope prayed, through "dialogue and reconciliation capable of creating the conditions for lasting peace."

He also called for a "no" to weaponry given that, with human weakness, we can often end up using it for war sooner or later. Peace is even more difficult, he observed, "when arms production, sales, and trade are on the rise" and public funds spent on arms can come at the expense of bread for the hungry.