US, Europe To Blame For Children Dying In Middle East: Pope Francis

Pope Francis on Monday blamed Europe and the United States (US) for children dying in conflicts across the Middle Eastern region. "A country that produces and sells weapons has on its conscience the death of every child and the destruction of each family," the Pope said.

Pope blamed US and Europe for deaths in Syria and Yemen in Middle East and in Afghanistan saying that wealthy Western countries fuel war and conflict by selling their weapons. Speaking to students at Milan’s San Carlo Institute, the Pope said: "Rich countries like US and the European ones sell their weapons that leads to death of children."



Talking about the need for countries to welcome and integrate migrants, Pope said that excuses made by governments that refugees might turn are to be criminals are unjustified. He said that criminals exist in Italy too. "We have lots of them," he added.

“The Mafia has not been invented by Nigerians. Mafia is ours,” he said, continuing that Europe is wealthy because of the migrants and that they have helped in development and prosperity of the European region.

According to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) report in 2018, the total international trade in arms was worth about $100bn. US leads the list of exporters with 34% of the total arms sales.

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