Pope Benedict XVI is sending a delegation of bishops, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, to Syria in late October to show solidarity with victims of violence and encourage peace negotiations. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, made the announcement on Oct. 16, the Catholic News Service reported. “In the certainty that Read more
“Making every effort to maintain the spirit of unity in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3b). Blessed are the Peacemakers Violence is something we live with on a daily basis. It can be felt as an unkind word, experienced as a physical injury or extreme hunger, or seen in spectacular actions of armed killers on the Read more
Pope Benedict is saddened by the military’s massacre of civilians in the Syrian town of Houla, and has again called for talks to end the violence. “The recent massacre in the Syrian town of Houla in which around one hundred people, including numerous children, lost their lives, is a motive of great sorrow and concern Read more
In the Pacific, it has been found that community leaders such as chiefs and church leaders resolve conflict on a day to day basis often preventing needless escalation of disputes. A University of Queensland researcher, Morgan Brigg, says research in Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu shows peace and order is Read more
Sudanese president Omar al Bashir says the only way to negotiate with the South Sudanese is “with bullets and rifles.” Bashir’s rhetoric and the attitude of the United Nations has Caritas Internationalis warning that Sudan and South Sudan are just a step away from the brink of full-scale war. Caritas is urging the Sudanese leaders Read more
It’s only in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas and the Roman soldiers arrive to arrest Jesus, that the early community — the disciples of men and women, the first church — finally come to understand Jesus. There they realize just how serious Jesus is about life-giving nonviolence. Lent invites us to come to the Read more
With Christians threatened by civil war fleeing Syria and in the fear that majority rule could lead to an Islamic republic, His Beatitude, Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan has asked the international community, but especially western powers, to help find a peaceful and democratic solution. “We try to tell, especially the Western powers: look, democracy Read more
Labelling the situation in Syria as “Desperate”, Archbishop El-Sayeh of Antioch has called for negotiations in order to prevent War. As conflict between the Syrian government supporters and opponents is being compared to last year’s fight for control of Libia, the archbishop is pleading for an end to all violence. “Everybody is suffering in Syria Read more
The landmines that the land is scattered with and the serious epidemics affecting children: are among the most pressing problems of the population of ethnic Kachin, in the north of Myanmar, the scene of the clash between government troops and Kachin Independence Army” rebels, according to Rishop Raymond Sumlut Gam, Bishop of Banmaw.
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As heads of several united Nations bodies labelled the current attempts to regulate trade in conventional weapons as “patchwork” and “simply not adequate,” Head of the Holy See’s delegation, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, told the preparatory meeting of the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty that arms are are not the same as other goods traded on the Read more