POPE BENEDICT has insisted on an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Israel
and Hezbollah, directly challenging the American-led position that conditions are not yet
right for a halt in fighting.
Speaking on Wednesday in St Peter’s Square, where he resumed his weekly general audiences, the Pope said: “I renew a pressing appeal for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and all violence!”
Before a crowd of some 40,000 youngsters who were in Rome for an international congress of altar servers, Pope Benedict said, “Nothing can justify the shedding of innocent blood, no matter what side it comes from.”
He recalled the “chilling images” of the children killed in the Lebanese town of Qana and urged “the international community and all those more directly involved to put down conditions for a definitive political solution to the crisis as soon as possible”.
It was the Pope’s second appeal this week. “In the name of God I turn to all those responsible for this violence, so that all sides immediately lay down their arms!”
The Tablet
