At the end of the General Audience, the pope spotted a group of pilgrims from Australia and reached out to them with a few words.
POPE FRANCIS
Among you there is a group from Australia. I would like to ask everyone to pray to the Lord to help the people in this difficult time, with the fires that are ever so strong. I express my closeness to the people of Australia.
Wildfires are literally sweeping the country. They have scorched around 20 million acres, taken the lives of numerous people and killed millions of animals since they started in November.
