The killing of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel, forced to his knees by Islamist militants who then slit his throat, sent a deep chill over the World Youth Day event. He said that a string of recent attacks, including the murder of a priest in France, was proof that the "world is at war". Police have not raised the threat level for the gathering of more than a million Catholic youth from around the world, sometimes called the "Catholic Woodstock". However, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him to Poland, the pope said he was not talking about a war of religion, but rather one of domination of peoples and economic interests. "Pope John Paul II said that we should be tolerant and not resort to force.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald July 27, 2016 14:15 UTC