Pope Francis says the war in Ukraine shows that humanity has to shed a strange instinct for "self-destruction", and that buying more weapons is not the ultimate solution to any conflict, Reuters reported.

"War is a defeat of humanity," he said, asking God to "free us from this 'need' for self-destruction".

"Let us also pray that those who govern understand that buying weapons and manufacturing weapons is not the solution to the problem," he said.

"The solution is to work together for peace, as the Bible says, in order to transform weapons into instruments of peace."