Pope: appeal for the Democratic Republic of Congo (full text)
(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI appealed for peace in the eastern part of the Democratic
Republic of Congo on Sunday. Speaking to pilgrims and tourists gathered to pray the
Angelus with him at the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father deplored
the violence that flared again recently in the DRC between a rebel group and irregular
militia forces seeking to establish control over an already much-contested area during
a lull in activity by regular government forces. This latest round of fighting has
driven thousands of people from their homes since the middle of September. “With affection
and concern,” said Pope Benedict, “I follow the developments in the east of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.” Listen:
Intermittent
fighting involving regular government forces, rebels and militia groups experienced
a serious flare-up between April and July, during which nearly a quarter-million people
were displaced internally and as many as 60 thousand others fled into neighbouring
Rwanda and Uganda – a refugee crisis that UN agencies say will require at least $40
million in supplementary emergency funding.
The Holy Father expressed prayerful
spiritual closeness to the refugees, many of whom are women and children, and to all
those affected by the violence. He prayed that, by God’s grace, there might be found
peaceful means of dialogue, effective protection of innocents, and a return – as soon
as possible – to a peace based on justice. The Pope also called for the restoration
of brotherly concord throughout the whole people of the DRC and throughout the entire
region.
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Below, please find
Vatican Radio’s translation of Pope Benedict XVI’s appeal for peace in the eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo:
I follow with affection and concern the
affairs of the people in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, object,
in these days of attention from a high-level meeting at the United Nations. I am particularly
close to the refugees, to the women and children, who because of persistent armed
clashes, undergo suffering, violence and profound hardship. I pray to God: that there
be found peaceful means of dialogue and for the protection of innocents; that peace
based on justice return as swiftly as possible; for the restoration of fraternal coexistence
within that sorely tried population, and throughout the entire region.