Pope prays for Capitol riot dead, appeals for calm

Pope Francis on Sunday said he was praying for those who died in the US Capitol rioting and appealed for calm to prevail to help safeguard American democratic values.During his traditional Sunday noon remarks at the Vatican, Francis noted five people died when a mob stormed through the building where Congress was meeting on January 6.

"Violence is always self-destructive," Francis said, before appealing to a "high sense of responsibility" by leaders to "calm souls" to prevent further violence. He then prayed that the Virgin Mary, who is the church's patron of the United States, to help keep alive "the culture of caring as the superior way to build together the common good" with all those who live in that land."

A mob stormed the Capitol after US President Donald Trump exhorted them in a speech to a rally of supporters to head to the building and "fight like hell" to protest his loss in November's presidential election, which he, with no factual basis, contends was "stolen".

The rioting left a Capitol police officer and four others dead. The pope delivered the Angelus from inside the Apostolic Palace instead of from a window overlooking St Peter's Square due to the coronavirus pandemic.