Vatican City, Jun 21, 2007 / 07:33 am
This morning, Pope Benedict told participants in the annual Meeting of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO), of his "pain and concern for the delicate situation affecting vast areas of the Middle East." The Holy Father reiterated his concern and call for peace in a separate meeting with the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.
He described the current situation in the Middle East by saying, "Peace, becomes even more fragile because of injustices, old and new. Thus it is extinguished altogether and gives way to violence which often degenerates into more or less open war until it ends up, as in our own time, as an urgent international problem."
"The Pope exhorted those in charge of restoring peace to accept their duty to bring peace by healing “the mortal illness of religious, cultural, historical or geographical discrimination."
Benedict XVI repeated his assurances that "the Holy Land, Iraq and Lebanon are present, with the urgency and constancy they deserve, in the prayers and activities of the Apostolic See and of the entire Church." He also called on the Congregation for Oriental Churches and its associated institutions to ensure that their "intervention in favor of so many of our brothers and sisters becomes more incisive."