(10 Aug 08 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI appealed today for an immediate end to hostilities
in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.
Speaking after the Angelus prayer
this Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI called on "the international community and the most
influential countries in the current situation to make every effort to support and
promote initiatives aimed at reaching a peaceful and lasting solution, for the sake
of open and respectful coexistence".
The pope also called on the belligerents
to remember their "shared Christian heritage", and said Catholics are in union with
"their Orthodox brethren" in prayer for peace.
The Holy Father said it is his
earnest hope that the military action cease immediately, and that, partly in the name
of a shared Christian heritage, further violent conflict and retaliation may be avoided,
which could degenerate into a much more widespread conflict.
Together with
our Orthodox brethren", he concluded, "let us pray intensely for these intentions,
which we entrust confidently to the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother
of Jesus and of all Christians".
Pope Benedict XVI was speaking after his second
and final Angelus prayer from the Cathedral church of the Alpine Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone,
where he has spent the past two weeks vacationing.