In Nagasaki, Pope Francis calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons

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Rain didn't deter Pope Francis' faithful lining up before dawn to catch a glimpse of him on Sunday (November 24).

Speaking at Nagasaki's Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park, ground zero of the bomb drop during WW2 that killed 27,000 people, the Pontiff sent a strong message to world leaders.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) POPE FRANCIS SAYING:

"I ask political leaders not to forget that these weapons cannot protect us from current threats to national and international security."

He also called for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be honored as a living memory - as opposed to a quote, 'relic of the past'.

Pope Francis then went on to say Holy Mass at Nagasaki stadium, with 30,000 worshippers tuning out to hear his prayers.

Francis is on his second leg of a week-long Asian trip. Pope John Paul also visited Nagasaki during his trip to Japan nearly four decades ago.

The city is considered a center of Japanese Catholicism.