BREAKING NEWS

Pope, at Fatima shrine, urges end to wars tearing world apart

Pope Francis, visiting one of Catholicism's most famous sanctuaries, on Friday prayed for an end to wars he said were lacerating the world and urged the faithful to "tear down all walls" to spread justice and peace.

At the start of a trip that will see him on Portuguese soil for less than 24 hours, Francis arrived at the Shrine of Fatima, where the Catholic Church teaches that the Madonna appeared to three Portuguese children 100 years ago in what was then an impoverished farming village.

The main purpose of the trip to the central Portuguese town, which receives around 7 million people a year, is a huge open-air Mass on Saturday to declare two of the children saints.