Pope scolds violent U.S. protesters

Pope Francis used his weekly prayer from the Vatican Wednesday to directly address Americans and condemn the violent protests that followed the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd at the hands of a police officer.

“Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd,” Francis said during his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican.

“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. At the same time, we have to recognize that the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost.”

The pontiff’s comments came after protests rippled across the U.S. for an eighth straight night in the name of the 46-year-old Floyd, who was killed in Minneapolis while in police custody on Memorial Day.

Video of the deadly confrontation, leaked online a day later, shows Floyd begging for his life while an officer kneels on his neck for nearly nine minutes. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later.

This also marked the first time Francis has spoken on the matter. He dedicated his entire English-language section of his scheduled audience to the unrest raging across the U.S.

The pope also requested that Americans ask God for “the national reconciliation and peace for which we yearn.”