Pope Francis calls for peace not war

Pope Francis has strongly opposed US war plans against Syria.

The leader of the Catholic Church, speaking during a mass peace vigil at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, called on world leaders to put an end to the "spiral of sorrow and death."

Around the world, 1.2 billion Roman Catholics had committed to the global day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria.

Speaking to around 100,000 people in St. Peter's Square he said: "Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death! We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow destruction, pain, death!"

Pope Francis continued: "At this point I ask myself: Is it possible to change direction? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?"

On the question of Syria, Francis said that talk of war against Syria had prevented a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

On Thursday, the pope wrote to the world leaders attending the G20 summit in Russia, asking them to speak out against a military strike on Syria.

War rhetoric against Syria has intensified in the past few days with the President of the United States, Barack Obama and other allied forces accusing the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching the chemical attack on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21.

President Barack Obama said he had decided that Washington should take military action against the Syrian government, even without a UN mandate.

Damascus has vehemently denied the chemical weapon accusations, saying the attack was carried out by the militants themselves under false-flags
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