VATICAN CITY, MAY 30, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Concerned with Holy Land violence, John Paul II dispatched a special envoy today to hand deliver messages asking Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a cease-fire.
Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, left Rome this morning for the Mideast, said Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro-Valls.
The envoy was accompanied by Father Giovanni d'Aniello, of the Vatican State secretariat.
Cardinal Laghi "will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, to whom he will deliver a signed message from His Holiness for the purpose of encouraging the parties to a cease-fire and the renewal of dialogue," Navarro-Valls stated.
Zenit - The World Seen From Rome
30. mai 2001