Pope Francis has urged people to obey rules aimed at preventing a devastating second wave of infections as their leaders begin to ease coronavirus lockdowns.

“In these days in which we are starting to have regulations to come out of quarantine, let us pray to the Lord that he gives his people, all of us, the grace of prudence and obedience to the regulations so that the pandemic does not return,” Reuters quoted the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics as saying.

Francis has been in lockdown himself, with his events streamed on the internet with no public participation.