Pope Leo XIV commemorated the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday and prayed for the those who perished in the western Japanese city at the end of World War II.

Pope Leo on Wednesday criticised the "illusory security" of the global nuclear deterrence system, in an appeal on the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War.

The average age of survivors is now 86 and some fear their stories will die with them, while warnings have been issued about the growing support for nuclear weapons