Pope Francis last night telephoned the president of the Nice region in southern France, Christian Estrosi, to express his sorrow over Thursday’s terrorist attack and asking what he could do to help. 

According to the Italian Adnkronos news agency, the Pope called Estrosi, a former mayor of Nice and president of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, at 7p.m. “apologizing because he doesn’t speak French well.”

“The first thing he said to me was ‘What can I do for you?’”, said Estrosi, who was mayor of Nice until mid-June. “He promised that he would soon meet the victims’ families. It was a phone call that gave great comfort and is what’s needed in order to start over.”

The call was made through Paolo Celi, president of' “Amitiè France-Italie”, an association bringing together the peoples of France, Italy and Monaco. Estrosi is also a member.

Celi was on the Promenade des Anglais, the scene of the atrocity, to celebrate Bastille Day. "I witnessed the fireworks display and came home just a few moments before the massacre happened,” he said.

Estrosi and Celi today attended a national tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack on the Promenade des Anglais. 

The 'Afi' was founded in 2012 at the request of the mayor of Nice and caters for 420,000 Italians living in France and 4 million French of Italian origin.

During his Angelus address yesterday, the Holy Father expressed his closeness to “every family, and to the entire French nation, which is in mourning” and prayed that “every plan for terror and death” might be dispersed to prevent anyone from spilling “his brother’s blood.”