The tireless work of churches and aid agencies in the Middle East is "a reflection of God's mercy" and a sign that "evil has limits", Pope Francis has said.
Pope Francis yesterday paid a surprise visit to Amatrice, the Italian town levelled by an earthquake at the end of August with the loss of 297 lives, and the other nearby devastated towns.
When Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby join in prayer tomorrow morning at vespers, or evening prayers, in San Gregorio al Celio church in Rome, this will mark another step towards unity between Anglicans and Catholics.
A call for tolerance across religions was made during the reopening of the church in Normandy, France on Sunday where Islamist extremists slit the throat of a priest more than two months ago.
Francis measured his words carefully, in an apparent attempt not to hurt the Vatican's increasingly warm ties with the Kremlin-backed Russian Orthodox Church.