POPE Benedict XVI has appealed to those responsible for the July 7 bombing attacks in London by calling on the perpetrators to stop sowing hatred and terrorism.
“I say to you: God loves life, which he created, not death. Stop in the name of God,” said the Pope.
More than 50 people died and more than 700 others were injured when explosives were detonated along four points of London’s Underground and bus system.
After praying the Angelus on July 10, Pope Benedict asked the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square to pray for “the people killed, for those wounded and for their loved ones”.
He then asked: “But let us also pray for the attackers. May the Lord touch their hearts.”
In a telegram sent by the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor of Westminster, Pope Benedict said his thoughts and prayers were with the victims, families of the injured and “all those who mourn”.
Rome and the Vatican beefed up security measures after the July 7 attacks on London’s transit system.
Meanwhile, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, said terrorism today has become “an international plague that does not take account of one’s race, religion, social status”.
CNS
