Pope Francis says education, jobs best way to prevent youth from being radicalized

Pope Francis waves to local residents as he drives to St. Joseph The Worker Catholic Church in the Kangemi slum of Nairobi, Kenya Friday, Nov. 27, 2015. Pope Francis is in Kenya on his first-ever trip to Africa, a six-day pilgrimage that will also take him to Uganda and the Central African Republic. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) 

Pope Francis says the way to prevent young people from being radicalized and going off to fight with extremist groups is to give them an education and a job.

Francis was asked Friday during his last public event in Kenya what young people can do to prevent their friends and family members from being seduced by radical ideologies that make them want to leave their loved ones behind to go join extremist groups.

Kenyans make up the largest contingent of foreign fighters in the Somali based al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab, which has staged a series of attacks in Kenya.

Francis said the first thing to do is to ensure that young people have an education and a job. He said: "If a young person has no work, what kind of a future does he or she have? That's where the idea of being recruited comes from."