Pope makes Peace Sunday appeal to world

Pope at Angelus - Wiki image

Pope Benedict XVI appealed for an end to conflicts around the world today (Peace Sunday). Speaking to pilgrims and faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with him, Pope Benedict especially prayed that, in the various conflicts unfortunately under way around the world, “The slaughter of innocent civilians should cease.”

He continued: “Let there be an end to all violence, and let there be found the courage to conduct dialogue and to negotiate.”

The Pope’s appeal for peace came in the context of a reflection on the pressing need for a recovery of the full, visible communion of all Christians, which Christ Himself desires for His Church. This Sunday falls in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – a theme to which the Pope also turned in his English remarks to the faithful: "Let us join our prayers to those of our brothers and sisters of all Churches and communities, that we may dedicate ourselves ever more earnestly to working towards our visible unity in Jesus Christ."

A convert and founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, Fr Paul Wattson began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 1908. It opens each year on the day of the traditional Feast of the Chair of St Peter (18 January), and concludes on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul ( 25 January).

Source: VIS