US bishop to make solidarity visit to Middle East

United States, 7 January 2014:The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced that Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, is making an 11-day solidarity visit to the Middle East.

“As I prepare to make a solidarity visit to the Middle East in support of the local Church caught in the midst of regional conflicts, I recall in a special way our Holy Father’s Urbi et Orbi Christmas message in which he invoked the ‘Prince of Peace’ to lead people to give up their arms and ‘undertake the path of dialogue,’” he said. “In addition to a special concern for the Church and people of Syria, Egypt, Israel, and Palestine, we remain deeply concerned for South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and all places that do not know God’s peace.”
Source: CWN