"I would like to pray together with you for the victims of the inhuman terrorist acts carried out in the past few days in Australia, Pakistan and Yemen," he said to tens of thousands of people at the end of his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square.
"May God welcome the dead into his peace, comfort the families and convert the hearts of the violent ones, who do not even stop before children," he said in a sombre voice, inviting the crowd to join in a moment of silent prayer for the victims.
Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani condoled with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, government and nation over the loss of lives of several children in the terrorist attack.
In his message, Rowhani also sympathised with the families of victims and voiced Iran’s readiness to cooperate with Pakistan to tackle terrorism.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott also offered sympathy to Pakistan after a deadly Taliban raid on a school, as Australia deals with the fallout from a cafe siege by a deranged gunman.
Abbott said the carnage at the school in Peshawar was hard to comprehend. "Well it is simply impossible to put into words, the mixture of grief and fury that must be felt by people in Pakistan, and indeed around the world, at this latest terrorist atrocity," he told ABC radio.
"And I hope, I hope in my deepest heart that somewhere in the hearts of people who might otherwise be attracted to this, there is a realisation that it is never, ever right to kill innocent people.
"And that's what we've seen on a mass scale in Pakistan overnight."
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2014.
1732849469-0/women-in-male-field-(1)1732849469-0-165x106.webp "article")
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ