Pope Francis on Saturday called for stronger collective action by the international community to prevent war and terrorism. Speaking at a cemetery in Redipuglia, near Italy's border with Slovenia, the pope didn't point to any single nation or leader, but warned that less visible forces created the conditions for military conflict.

"In today's world, behind the scenes, there are interests, geopolitical strategies, lust for money and power, and there is the manufacture and sale of arms," he told a crowd of thousands at the graveyard, where more than 100,000 Italian soldiers who died in World War I are buried.

"Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war: one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction," the pontiff said.

"The shadow of Cain hangs over us today in this cemetery. It is seen here. It is seen from 1914 right up to our own time. It is seen even in the present," he added.

The trip to the cemetery was thought to be infused with personal meaning for the pope, whose grandfather fought for Italy in nearby battlefields in the last two years of World War I.

An estimated 200,000 Roman Catholics, mainly from Italy, Slovenia and Croatia attended Saturday's ceremony, according to Vatican Radio.

pfd/nm (AFP, AP, epd)