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Defeat violence with love, says Pope

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Head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis urged the world in his Easter message yesterday to use the "weapons of love" to combat the evil of "blind and brutal violence", following the terrorist attacks in Brussels.

He was speaking at an Easter Sunday Mass for tens of thousands of people in a sun-drenched St Peter's Square at the Vatican.

He spoke of violence, injustice and threats to peace in many parts of the world.

Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica, he mentioned not only the recent attacks in Belgium, but those in Turkey, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Iraq.

"With the weapons of love, God has defeated selfishness and death," the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said.

The 79-year-old Argentine pontiff urged people to channel the hope of Easter to defeat "the evil that seems to have the upper hand in the life of so many people". - Wires

Race & ReligionVaticanterrorism