VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday made an impassioned plea, delivered partly in Spanish, for an end to widening violence in Peru over demands for the resignation of the country’s president.
Addressing some 15,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly appearance at a window of the Apostolic Palace, Francis said: “I invite (you) to pray so that the acts of violence cease in Peru.”
“Violence extinguishes hope for a just solution to the problems,” the pontiff said. “I encourage all sides involved to take up the path of dialogue among brothers in the same nation, in the full respect of human rights and of the rule of law.