“I join in the unanimous concern for the situation in Afghanistan,” Pope Francis said following his August 15 Angelus address as Kabul fell to the Taliban. “I ask all of you to pray with me to the God of peace so that the clamor of weapons might cease and solutions can be found at the table of dialogue. Only thus can the battered population of that country – men, women, elderly and children – return to their own homes, and live in peace and security, in total mutual respect.”

The Pontiff also prayed for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, which killed over 1,200 people and destroyed over 8,000 buildings.