Pope Francis held a moment of silent prayer during his weekly Angelus address on Sunday for the victims of the Christchurch mosque attack.

Pope Francis called on the crowd in St Peter’s Square to tackle “hatred and violence” with “prayer and gestures of peace”. He felt particularly close to “our Muslim brothers and all the community" of New Zealand, he added.

“Dear brothers and sisters, in these days, the pain caused by wars and conflicts that ceaselessly afflict humanity, includes pain for the victims of the horrible attack against two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand,” the Pope said at the end of his address.