It will take placein wellington between 26 February and 3 March and will be centred in a Vigil Bus.

Anyone is are welcome to join the bus at any time, day or night.

The location of the bus on any particular day can be found on this FaceBook page or by calling 022 1600 751

Participants will be exploring gentleness, vulnerability, prayer and enemy love in the service of a non-violent engagement with the discipleship queries of our age.

Starting on every second hour (8am, 10am, 12pm...) all day and all night, there will be a short prayer liturgy for about 15 minutes.

In the times between prayer, participants will do Christian meditation, Taize, reading and discussion of peace texts.

To conclude the week, a propitiatory* offering of blood will be made to the GCSB.

The participants will call for them to take their blood instead.

U.S. drone strikes have killed thousands of innocent civilians in 7 Muslim majority countries. The killing continues.

New Zealand's Defense Forces (GCSB) are helping the killer drone programme, by giving signals intelligence to the U.S.A

*To sacrifice something in order to stop something else being taken.

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Francis was surrounded by nearly 20 dark-suited bodyguards during his tour through St Peter's Square aboard his open-sided popemobile, more than the normal 12 who usually jog alongside him.

At each of the two main gates to the square, six or eight carabinieri guards checked pilgrims with wands and searched bags, more than usual.

After Francis finished, carabinieri patrol cars constantly looped along the main boulevard leading to the square.

Francis himself alluded to the security situation in his remarks to the crowd of about 20,000, saying the Church must always keep its doors open.

"There are places in the world where you still don't have to lock your doors, but there are so many other places where the doors are barred shut, and where that has become normal," he said.

"We shouldn't give in to the idea that we have to use this system, which is also for security."

"Please, no armoured doors in the Church," he said. "Nothing. Open doors."

Meanwhile, Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano announced that drones will not be able to fly over Rome's air space during the Holy Year of Mercy, starting on December 8.

Following repeated threats attributed to ISIS on social media against Rome and the Vatican, security would be tightened around sites considered potential targets, particularly in and around St Peter's Square, Mr Alfano said.

"Particular attention has been dedicated to the risk of an attack from the air, using drones," he said.

Rome's prefect, Franco Gabrielli, said on Wednesday that law enforcement authorities were prepared to shoot down unauthorised drones and ultralight aircraft if they violate the airspace ban.

Sources

• Reuters
• Associated Press
• Image: Daily Mail

Arriving at the Polish town of Slubice on Saturday, the drone aims to drop several packages of pills weighing under 5kg in total.

The packets are to be received by women's groups, which will then distribute them to women who need them. Continue reading

"Targeted killing should, by definition, be highly discriminatory," said letters from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon and members of Congress.

The letters questioning the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were signed by the chairman of the bishops' committee on international justice and peace, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines.

"The administration's policy appears to extend the use of deadly force to alleged ‘signature' attacks and reportedly classifies all males of a certain age as combatants," Bishop Pates said.

"Are these policies morally defensible? They seem to violate the law of war, international human rights law, and moral norms."

Bishop Pates noted that targeted killings by drones raise "serious moral questions", including concerns related to discrimination, imminence of threat, proportionality and probability of success.

He emphasised the importance of protecting American lives and the danger posed by a terrorist organisation like Al Qaeda, but said the relative low cost and ease of using drones might tempt US leaders to use them to excess, causing them to underutilise "economic, political and diplomatic responses".

"And doesn't the prospect of widespread deployment of UAVs by other nations and non-state actors put a spotlight on our nation as the primary developer and user of UAV armed and unarmed technology?" he asked.

Bishop Pates said the US should exercise leadership in advancing international norms, standards and restrictions for the use of drones.

"An effective counterterrorism policy should employ non-military assets to build peace through respect for human rights and addressing underlying injustices that terrorists unscrupulously exploit," he said.

Bishop Pates said the US should publicly discuss and scrutinise its policy of targeted killings by drones, in order formulate "a more comprehensive, moral and effective policy to resist terrorism".

Sources:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Full text of letters

Image: The Nation