On Wednesday, the Vatican's Press Office released the Holy Father's prayer intentions for the month of April.  In his intentions, the Pontiff prays for the perseverance of Christians who are persecuted and that respect and tolerance will counter fundamentalism and extremism.

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention is: "That every tendency to fundamentalism and extremism may be countered by constant respect, by tolerance and by dialogue among all believers."

His mission intention is: "That Christians persecuted for the sake of the Gospel may persevere, sustained by the Holy Spirit, in faithfully witnessing to the love of God for the entire human race."