Pope Francis called the Syrian civil war one of the worst humanitarian crises of current times on Sunday, saying its 10th anniversary should spur all to seek "a sliver of hope" for a devastated nation, Reuters reports.
In mid-March, 2011, peaceful pro-democracy protests developed into a multi-sided conflict that sucked in world powers, killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more.
Syria had seen "every type of violence and enormous suffering by the population, particularly the most vulnerable, such as children, women and the elderly," said the pope, who last Monday returned from a trip to bordering Iraq.
He then led the crowd in prayer for the "beloved and martyred Syria."