Pope decries 'vile' attack on Syrians in Easter address

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This comes amid escalated tensions between the two countries as U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on the Shayrat airfield of the Syrian air forces, believed by Washington to be the base for warplanes that carried out the chemical attack rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun killing 87 people, including many children.

The Pope also noted in his impromptu homily that " in this culture of waste what is not needed is thrown away, discarded, that stone - Jesus - is discarded and is the source of life.

On Sunday, Francis will celebrate the joyful Easter Mass in a flower-filled St. Peter's Square. "Yesterday saw the latest vile attack on fleeing refugees", the pope said.

The blast hit buses carrying Shi'ite residents as they waited to cross from rebel into government territory in an evacuation deal between the warring sides.

He also called for world leaders to have "the courage they need to prevent the spread of conflicts and to put a halt to the arms trade".

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Invoking that war, former leader of the ruling Conservative party Michael Howard said current PM Theresa May is prepared for a fight.

The Argentine pontiff expressed the hope that Christ's own sacrifice might help bring "comfort and relief to the civil population in Syria, prey to a war that continues to sow horror and death".

Pope Francis, marking the fifth Easter season of his pontificate, said mass before tens of thousands of people under exceptional security measures in St Peter's Square, following recent vehicle attacks against pedestrians in London and Stockholm. He also referred to the need for peace in the Middle East and solidarity with the peoples of South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are now suffering from the perpetuation of conflicts intensified by the very serious shortages in certain regions of Africa.

But Francis addressed a concern likely on the minds of many Catholics on this religious holiday as they witness what seems like daily images of war, terrorism and starvation in every corner of the globe: Why is tragedy so common if Jesus rose from the dead to forgive the sins of the world, the central belief behind Easter?

"The church never ceases to say to with our defeaters, to our closed and fearful hearts, 'Stop, the Lord is risen, '" Pope Francis said Sunday according to multiple reports".

He gestured toward the potted hyacinths, tulips and daffodils, which came from the Netherlands, and which were arranged in neat rows on the steps leading to the imposing church. "This is handsome, but [the resurrection] is more", he said.

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