Pope urges international community to aid civilians in S. Lanka, wishes peace in Holy Land

(May 18, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday appealed for the security of evacuating and homeless civilians of Sri Lanka and called on aid groups to get them the food and medicine they urgently need. Speaking after his weekly midday ‘Regina Coeli’ prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father said he was spiritually close to all Sri Lankans and was praying for peace and reconciliation in the island nation. “There are thousands of children, women, and elderly there from whom the war has taken away years of life and hope," he said, speaking in Italian. He asked the humanitarian organizations, including Catholic ones, to do all they can to meet the refugees urgent food and medical needs. Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels admitted defeat on Sunday in their 25-year civil war with the government, promising to lay down their arms. Pope Benedict said the aid groups should “leave no stone unturned” as they care for the thousands of civilians who fled the waning battles between the government and rebels. He said he was adding his voice to that of the United Nations Security Council, which last week demanded that civilians be allowed to leave the war zone. Pope Benedict entrusted Sri Lanka to the nation’s Virgin of Madhu, and prayed that God "will hasten the day of reconciliation and peace."
Before reciting the “Regina Coeli”, Pope Benedict recalled his recent 8-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land and urged Christians, Jews and Muslims in the region to work together for peace and justice. "The Holy Land, symbol of God’s love for his people and for the whole of humanity, is also a symbol of the freedom and the peace that God wants for all his children," the Holy Father said. "In fact, however, the history of yesterday and today shows that precisely that Land has become the symbol of the opposite, that is, of divisions and interminable conflicts between brothers," he said. During the May 8-15 trip that took him to Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and Israel, the Pope visited several Biblical sites and met representatives of Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. Speaking about the land of Jesus, the Pope said, “God came to this land, he acted with us in this world." "But here we can say still more: The Holy Land, because of its very history, can be considered a microcosm that recapitulates in itself God’s arduous journey with humanity.”
At the end of the “Regina Coeli” prayer, Pope Benedict greeted various groups in their languages, including in English.
Listen:
I warmly greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Regina Caeli prayer. In today’s Gospel Jesus invites his disciples to remain in his love by their love for one another. These words of the Risen Lord have a special resonance for me as I reflect on my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I ask all of you to join me in praying that the Christians of the Middle East will be strengthened in their witness to Christ’s victory and to the reconciling power of his love. Through the prayers of Mary, Queen of Peace, may the Christians of the Holy Land, in cooperation with their Jewish and Muslim neighbours, and all people of good will, work in harmony to build a future of justice and peace in those lands. Upon them, and upon all of you, I invoke an abundance of Easter joy in Christ our Saviour.