He prayed in silence before walking slowly through one of the rows marked by marble crosses. The pope arrived by car to the hilltop cemetery just a few miles north of the Vatican and placed white roses on several graves. Among those present at the Mass was Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Vatican’s highest court, who was born in Marrakech, Morocco, to French parents. Nearly 2,000 French soldiers are buried here, many of them Moroccan soldiers who served under French officers. The Italian government established the French Military Cemetery to honor the French soldiers who fought against Nazi and fascist forces on Italian soil from 1943 to 1944.

Last year he presided over a private Mass in a chapel and then visited and blessed graves in a small cemetery inside the Vatican. The tombstones of soldiers killed in war cry out to people today to end all wars and to stop the production of weapons, Pope Francis said.Īn easing of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Pope Francis to resume his usual practice of celebrating Mass on the feast of All Souls in a cemetery-in Rome or nearby-but only about 250 people were in attendance. “But we, who are journeying (on earth), are we fighting enough so there will be no more wars, so there will be no more domestic economies fortified by the arms industry?” he asked. 2, at the French Military Cemetery in Rome. “I am sure that all of those who went with goodwill (to war), called by their country to defend it, are with the Lord,” he said, celebrating Mass on the feast of All Souls, Nov. ROME (CNS) - The tombstones of soldiers killed in war cry out to people today to end all wars and to stop the production of weapons, Pope Francis said.

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