VATICAN, Dec 5, 01 (CWNews.com) - At his regular public audience on Wednesday, Pope John Paul II condemned the "useless spiral of death" in the Holy Land, and called for an immediate end to the "absurd violence" there.
After delivering his regular catechetical address-- a meditation on Psalm 117-- the Pope told the 10,000 people who had assembled in St. Peter's Square that he felt "profound sorrow for the new victims" of the conflict that "continues to bloody the region of the Middle East." He made the same appeal for peace in several different languages, urging international leaders to work "with ever greater determination and courage" to renew negotiations toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
In his meditation, the Holy Father had observed that the chanting of Psalm 117 is part of Jewish liturgical rituals. It is a hymn of joy and victory, he observed, and the text points toward the coming of Christ and particularly to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
5. desember 2001