(30 Nov 08 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI called on all the faithful to pray today for the
victims of terrorism in Mumbai, India, and a deadly outbreak of violence in the central
Nigerian city of Jos.
Nearly 200 people were killed in coordinated terrorist
attacks and more than 60 hours of fighting that follwed in Mumbai last week, for which
a group calling itself while clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in the central
Nigerian city of Jos left around 400 people dead.
The Archbishop of Abuja,
Nigeria, Cardinal John Onaiyekan told us the ringleaders of the unrest in Jos have
political motives…
The situation we are seeing in the news media in Nigeria,
especially in Jos, is indeed very unfortunate – very unfortunate because we felt we
were already making great progress, especially the leaders of religion and government
in that zone of Nigeria. It is important to go to the truth, to the truth of the matter.
It will not be helpful to simply say Christians and Muslims are fighting. After all,
we know that the origin of all this is political, the result or non-result of an election.
Politicians always find a way to manipulate religion when it suits them, and this
is what is happening now.
In India, in the wake of the Mumbai violence,
the Country’s top security official, Home Minister Shivraj Patilresigned Sunday as
the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following
terror attacks.
The Spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India,
Fr. Babu Joseph told us the Church is helping civil authorities and all those who
have been affected by the violence in Mumbai, which is India’s largest center of commerce
and a popular international tourist destination…
The Cardinal has asked that
we keep all our Church health facilities ready, and also, the army personnel are staying
for three or four days next to the church over here. We have given them places and
shelter to park over here, and even given them food and help. We also want to start
peace committees – I think we should do much more in trying to educate people about
the sacredness of life, becausethere is a certain callousness to life, they’ve been
desensitized to life, they’ve seen so much of crime, so much of violence, so much
of death. The youngsters seem to have lost the sense of the sacredness of life.
In
remarks delivered after the Sunday Angelus prayer, the Pope said "The causes and circumstances
of these tragic events are different, but our horror, and the condemnation of such
cruel and senseless violence must be one and the same."
The pope asked God
to "touch the hearts of deluded people who think violence is the way to resolve local
or international problems."
During his Angelus remarks, the Pope also spoke
words of greeting to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His Holiness, Bartholomew
I, on occasion of the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Peter’s brother and the
Patron of the Church at Constantinople.
Pope Benedict said, “The Church of
Rome feels closely connected to that of Constantinople by a tie of special fraternity.”
In
keeping with tradition, a Vatican delegation led by the president of the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper is in Istanbul to celebrate
the feast with the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Pope Benedict sent greetings and best
wishes to the Patriarch and to all the Christian faithful there, invoking upon all
of them an abundance of blessing.
This Sunday was also the 1st Sunday
of Advent, and Pope Benedict spoke about the season during his English language remarks
following the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, remarks in which the Pope also
greeted the participants in a youth conference at the European University of Rome…
Today,
the First Sunday of Advent, the Church begins a new liturgical year. The Gospel invites
to be prepared as faithful servants for the coming of Christ. May Advent be a time
of preparation that leads us to a life centred on our Christian hope. May God bless
you all!
Advent was also one of the Holy Father’s topics for reflection
Sunday morning when he visited the ancient Roman Basilica of St. Lawrence to mark
the end of the Lauretan Year which commemorates the 1750th anniversary of his martyrdom.
In
his homily, Pope Benedict recalled some of the more recent history of the basilica,
noting how during the 2nd World War, on 19 July 1943, a heavy air raid
inflicted severe damage to the building and the neighbourhood, sowing death and destruction,
and his predecessor, Pope Pius XII came to help and console the hard hit population
even as the rubble and ruin continued to smoulder around him.