VATICAN CITY (CNS): Opening 2011 with a strong call for religious liberty, Pope Benedict XVI condemned deadly attacks against Christians and announced a new interfaith meeting to be held in October in Assisi, Italy.
At a Mass on January 1 marking the World Day of Peace and a blessing the next day, the Pope voiced his concern about fresh episodes of violence and discrimination against Christian minorities in the Middle East.
In particular, the Pope condemned an attack on January 1 against Orthodox Christians in Egypt, calling it a “despicable gesture of death”. A bomb that exploded as parishioners were leaving a church in Alexandria, Egypt, left 25 people dead and dozens more injured.
The Pope said the attack was part of a “strategy of violence that targets Christians”, and which has negative repercussions on the entire population. He offered prayers for the victims and their families.
The Pope also denounced the recent practice of “planting bombs close to the homes of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave”.
At least seven Christian homes in Baghdad were targeted in bombings on December 30, leaving at least 13 people wounded.
The Pope said the latest attacks in Egypt and Iraq “offend God and all humanity”.
Addressing pilgrims at his noon blessing on January 1, the Pope said he planned to invite religious leaders from the world’s major faiths to gather in Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis, to “solemnly renew the commitment by believers of every religion to live their religious faith as a service to the cause of peace”.
“Whoever is making his way toward God cannot fail to transmit peace, and whoever builds peace cannot fail to draw nearer to God,” he said.
The Pope said the gathering, planned for October, was meant to recall “the historic gesture” made by the late Pope John Paul II when he convoked the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi in 1986.
In his homily during the morning Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on January 1, the Pope spoke about the theme he chose for World Peace Day 2011: “Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace”.
He said religious freedom was challenged today by two extremes at work in the world: secularism that banishes religion to the private sphere and fundamentalism that seeks to forcefully impose religion on everyone.
