Pope: violence and injustice marred 2017

vatican city - Pope Francis has sketched a sombre picture of the past year during a service in St. Peter's Basilica. He stated that 2017 is marred by violence, lies and injustice. The church prince called on people to take responsibility for their actions.

The Pope did not mention any specific events from the past year, but has rather expressed itself repeatedly. He denounced in April the 'unacceptable murder' in Syria, where many civilians had been killed by an attack with chemical weapons. Francis visited Myanmar in November, where more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims were fleeing violence. He later asked refugees during a visit to neighboring Bangladesh for forgiveness for the 'indifference of the world'.

Francis walked on Sint-Pietersplein Sunday after the service. There he shook hands and posed for photos. He also looked at a big nativity scene.