Pope Francis flew out from Rome to Maputo as part of a three-nation tour © AFP / ANDREAS SOLARO
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE, ZZZ, Sep 4 – Pope Francis has urged prayers for the victims of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas who “lost everything”, as he set off to Mozambique on a three-nation African tour.
“I would like to ask everyone… to pray for the victims of the hurricanes in the Bahamas, poor people who in one day lost their homes, lost everything and lost their lives,” the pontiff said in comments to journalists accompanying him on the plane.
At least 20 people were killed in the tragedy.
The pope flew out of Rome on Wednesday morning to Mozambique, a poor former Portuguese colony in southeastern Africa, in the first leg of a week-long trip that will also take him to the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar and Mauritius.
The visit to Mozambique comes a month after the government signed a historic peace treaty with the former rebel group Renamo, which is now the main opposition party.
The pope is expected to address Mozambique’s fragile peace process, the devastation caused by two back-to-back cyclones early this year, and the upcoming general election.
About The Author
