Vatican City, May 2, 2011 / 10:06 am
The Vatican says it does not rejoice in the death of Osama bin Laden.
“Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event is an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace,” spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, S.J. said on May 2.
Fr. Lombardi’s comments follow the announcement earlier today that the Al-Qaeda leader had been killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan. President Barack Obama informed the media that Bin Laden had died in a “firefight” at a compound in an urban area outside the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. A U.S. official quoted by the Associated Press said Bin Laden's body has now been buried at sea.
Bin Laden was wanted in connection with a number of terrorist atrocities including the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001. Those attacks alone killed over 3,000 people. Fr. Lombardi reflected upon the crimes Bin Laden stood accused of.