Vatican City, Jun 3, 2015 / 03:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his weekly general audience, Pope Francis lamented the suffering inflicted on families already struggling from poverty in countries torn by the “great predator” of war.

“Truly, war is the 'mother of all poverty,' the pontiff said Wednesday, addressing the crowds in Saint Peter’s Square.

“War impoverishes the family,” he said. It is “a great predator of lives, of souls, and of the most sacred and precious loved ones.”