Pope Condemns Violence In The Name of God

(Feb. 27, 2006) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday (Feb. 26) condemned all violence done in the name of God, and in particular the recent attacks on places of worship in Iraq and Nigeria. After reciting the midday Angelus prayer with thousands of pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square below his window, the Pope recalled the continuing “tragic violence in Iraq, with attacks in the mosques themselves." "These are actions that sow mourning, fuel hatred and gravely hinder the already difficult work of the country's reconstruction," he said. Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaimi said on Saturday that the wave of violence following the bombing on the Shiite shrine in Samara, Feb. 22, left more than 200 dead, and he warned of "a civil war" that "will never end."
The Pope also mentioned the confrontations that have taken place in Nigeria between Christians and Muslims, "with many victims and destruction of churches and mosques." Clashes in Nigeria left 150 dead and 900 injured. The confrontations were due in the main to political issues, though the spark that caused them were protests against the publication of cartoons on Mohammed in Western newspapers.
Pope Benedict expressed his "firm condemnation for the violation of places of worship," and commended "to the Lord all the deceased and those who mourn for them." He said, "The fruit of faith in God is not devastating antagonisms but the spirit of fraternity and collaboration in favor of the common good." "God, the Creator and Father of all, will call to an even more severe account all those who shed their brother's blood in his name," the Pope stated. He proposed "more intense prayer and penance, in the holy season of Lent, so that the Lord will remove from these beloved nations, and from many other parts of the earth, the threat of such conflicts!"
At the Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict also delivered a reflection on Lent which begins this week. During Lent, an annual period of 40 days (not counting Sundays), Christians pray, fast and engage themselves in good works and sacrifices in preparation for their greatest feast - Easter, which commemorates Jesus’ rising from the dead. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on March 1. Listen to what the Pope said in English regarding Lent:
The Holy Father will participate in a prayer meeting on Ash Wednesday in the Church of St. Anselm, Rome. The afternoon meeting will be followed by a penitential procession to the Basilica of St. Sabina, which will include cardinals, archbishops, Benedictine monks of St. Anselm and Dominican priests of St. Sabina. At the end of the procession, Mass will be celebrated in the Basilica of St. Sabina with the rite of blessing and imposition of ashes.