Pope Francis to take anti-nuclear mission to Japan's ground zeros

Pope Francis leads a Mass marking the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of the Poor, at Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis takes his mission to ban nuclear weapons this week to the only places where they were used in war, visiting the World War Two ground zeros of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as part of a tour of Japan and Thailand.

The seven-day trip, one of his longest and most distant, gives Francis an opportunity to support and encourage the tiny but well respected Catholic communities, which make up less than 1% of the population in each country.