Pope Francis urges world leaders to divert weapon funds for research on future pandemics

As the world continues to fight against the impact of coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis on Saturday urged global leaders to spend funds on research to prevent another pandemic instead of developing more weapons.

Marking the largest gathering in the Vatican in nearly three months, Pope Francis held an outdoor prayer service with about 130 people, including many directly affected by the pandemic.

Lakhs of people from nearly 50 Catholic shrines around the world virtually joined the rosary prayer in the Vatican gardens. A large screen in the gardens displayed video links with about 25 locations.

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Among those who joined the prayer were Italian doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers, as well as people who had recovered from coronavirus or lost family members to the infection.

Over 33,000 have succumbed to the virus in Italy. Most people wore coverings except for when they led prayers at the microphone. Pope Francis, 83, was seated several metres away from the gathering during most of the service and did not wear a mask.

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Pope calls for long-term solutions

In his closing prayer, Pope Francis proposed that world leaders should adopt a far-sighted attitude, by helping the needy now and coming up with long-term economic and social solutions. He prayed that the Madonna would touch consciences of leaders so that the enormous amount spent on possessing and perfecting more armaments would instead be diverted to research to prevent such catastrophes in the future.

Earlier this month, Pope Francis called for international scientific cooperation to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 and said any successful one should be shared globally.

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