Pope admits 'no answer to suffering' in TV interview

More than 3,000 questions were submitted after the initiative was announced a month ago, of which seven were chosen and put to the 84-year-old pontiff.

The Pope, speaking from his office in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, admitted there was no answer to why humans have to suffer as he responded to a question from a seven-year-old Japanese girl who was caught up in the tsunami. She asked why so many children had to suffer in natural calamities.

"I ask myself the same question," the Pope said. "We don't have the answers, but we know that Jesus suffered as innocent children suffer."