Pope condemns 'Nazi barbarism' in D-Day message

Pope Francis on Thursday hailed the soldiers who fought "Nazi barbarism" in a message for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy and voiced hope that European nations could recover their Christian roots.

in a letter from the Vatican to French Catholic leaders, the Argentine pontiff said that the commemoration "reminds us that excluding God from the lives of people and societies can bring nothing but death and suffering".

Francis praised "the numerous soldiers who left their country to land on the beaches of Normandy to fight against Nazi barbarism and free occupied France". (AFP)