Leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, broke down and wept on Thursday as he spoke about the suffering of Ukrainians during a public prayer in Rome.

Francis’s voice began to tremble as he spoke about the Ukrainians, and he had to pause for a long and impactful 30 seconds while he gathered his emotions.

When he spoke again, it was clear the Pope was still feeling emotional.

When he resumed speaking, the Pope said, “… once again, I have to bring you the pleas of children, of the elderly, of fathers and mothers, of the young people of that martyred land, which is suffering so much.”

A journalist later asked the Pope about his emotional display, to which he replied, “Yes. It [the war in Ukraine] is an enormous suffering, enormous. A defeat for humanity.”

Earlier this week, the Pope compared the war in Ukraine to a Nazi operation that killed around two million people (mostly Jewish people) in the first two years of WWII.