VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday expressed outrage at violence aimed at religious minorities in Iraq, where fleeing children have died of thirst, and called on the world “to stop these crimes.”

In a strongly worded message during his traditional Sunday blessing, Francis said the news from Iraq “leaves us in dismay and disbelief.” He cited “the thousands of people, including Christians, who have been brutally forced from their homes, children who have died from thirst during the escape and women who have been seized.”