VATICAN CITY, July 18 (Reuters) – Pope Francis called on Sunday for peace and dialogue in Cuba after unprecedented, nationwide protests rocked the communist-run country.

“I am also close to the dear people of Cuba in these difficult times,” Francis said in his weekly address to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, his first public appearance since returning to the Vatican after an 11-day hospital stay.

The pope also urged an end to the recent violence in South Africa and called the deadly floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands a “catastrophe”. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Crispian Balmer)

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