Pope prays for victims of latest terror attacks

American Cemetery at Nettuno

During his Angelus address today, the feast of All Saints, Pope Francis expressed his deep sorrow following recent terrorist attacks in Somalia, Afghanistan and on Tuesday in New York.

Speaking from the window of his studio in the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father deplored such acts of violence, adding: "I pray for the deceased, for the wounded and their family members. We ask the Lord to convert the hearts of terrorists and free the world from hatred and homicidal folly that abuses the name of God spreading death."

Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Pope had a special greeting for participants of the Race of the Saints mini marathon which was run in celebration of this feast day.

Before concluding his address, the Pope reminded the faithful that he would be travelling to the American Cemetery of Nettuno, South of Rome and then to the Fosse Ardeatine National Monument on 2 November to mark the feast on Feast of all Souls.

More than 7,800 American WW2 soldiers are buried at Nettuno. The Fosse Ardeatine National Monument is the place where a mass killing was carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War as a reprisal for a partisan attack. Popes Paul VI, St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI all visited the monument once.

Pope Francis, said: "I ask you to accompany me with prayer in these two stages of memory and suffrage for the victims of war and violence. Wars produce nothing but cemeteries and death: that is why I wanted to give this sign at a time when our humanity seems not to have learned the lesson or does not want to learn it."