VATICAN CITY

After leading thousands of pilgrims in praying the Angelus, Pope Francis offered prayers for flood victims in Texas and Louisiana following a devastating hurricane that caused massive flooding.

He also prayed for flood victims in Asia where monsoon rains have killed thousands in Bangladesh, India and Nepal and displaced millions of people.

"While I renew my spiritual closeness to the people of southern Asia, who still suffer the consequences of the floods, I want to express my heartfelt participation in the sufferings of the inhabitants of Texas and Louisiana struck by a hurricane and by exceptional rains that have caused victims, thousands of displaced and considerable material damage," the pope said Sept. 3.

Floods and landslides in southern Asia killed more than 1,000 people and affected an estimated 41 million people, the United Nations reported, the same week as hundreds of thousands were displaced in Texas and Louisiana after Hurricane Harvey made landfall Aug. 26.

Invoking the intercession of Mary, "consoler of the afflicted," the pope prayed that she would "obtain from the Lord the grace of comfort for our brothers and sisters" affected by the floods.

— Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service