Pope Francis called Israeli strikes on Lebanon a "terrible escalation" of the Middle East conflict on Wednesday at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican, which went ahead two days after he cancelled meetings over mild flu.

The move was described as a “precaution” in the statement from the Vatican days before he is to embark on a trip to Belgium and Luxembourg.

Dillon told VOA that while Pope Francis engages in interreligious dialogue in Asia, Europe and places like Belgium and Luxembourg remain very important to him and the Roman Catholic Church. “Secularization has sort of really accelerated certainly in the last 20 years.