Pope Francis on Sunday added his voice to a call by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an end to global conflict so all resources can focus on fighting the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at his weekly blessing in rome, delivered from the papal library instead of St. Peter’s Square because of the lockdown in Italy, Francis specifically mentioned the appeal Guterres made earlier in the week.

Saying the disease knows no borders, Francis wants everyone to “stop every form of bellicose hostility and to favour the creation of corridors for humanitarian help, diplomatic efforts and attention to those who find themselves in situations of great vulnerability”.

As Breitbart news reported, Guterres made his call via a virtual digital news conference, adding that as well as an end to war the U.N. would like $2 billion to be transferred from wealthy countries to the poor via the globalist body as a first step in tackling the health challenge.

“It is time to put armed conflict on lock-down and focus together on the true fight of our lives,” Guterres said. “The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly.”

“Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world,” Guterres said, adding that health networks in “war-ravaged countries” have collapsed and now is the time for talk not hostilities.

Today I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives – the #COVID19 pandemic.https://t.co/F6JRA6ekvZ pic.twitter.com/7WgtFMk5GC — António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 23, 2020

More than 662,700 people have now been infected by the virus across the world and 30,751 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

About a third of the deaths have been in Italy, where the toll passed 10,000 on Saturday, a figure that made an extension of a national lockdown almost certain.

Confirmed cases in Italy stood at 92,472, the second-highest number of cases in the world behind America.

In the space of 48-hours the U.S. death toll from the pandemic passed 2,000 late Saturday, figures confirm. Of those fatalities, 672 have been counted in New York City alone, as Breitbart News reported.