VATICAN CITY, HOLY SEE - Pope Francis on Sunday offered his prayers for Haiti, where criminal gangs have unleashed havoc in recent days.

"I am following with concern and pain the serious crisis affecting Haiti and the violent episodes that have occurred in recent days," the 87-year-old said after his Sunday Angelus prayer.

"I am close to the Church and to the dear Haitian people who have suffered so much for years."

He offered prayers for an end to the violence, calling for all sides to work towards peace and reconciliation, "with the renewed support of the international community".

Reporters help an elderly woman, who was shot on her foot, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 9, 2024. Sporadic gunfire rang out in Port-au-Prince late March 8, an AFP correspondent there heard, as residents desperately sought shelter amid the recent explosion of gang violence in the Haitian capital. (Photo by Clarens SIFFROY / AFP)

Criminal groups, which already control much of the capital Port-au-Prince as well as roads leading to the rest of the country, have unleashed havoc as they try to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry as leader of the Western hemisphere's poorest country.

The unrest has seen 362,000 Haitians internally displaced -- more than half of them children and some forced to move multiple times, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Saturday.