CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS): Pope John Paul II has urged the international community to address the ‘underlying causes’ of terrorism, saying inequalities and injustice can lead desperate people to turn to violence.
While terrorism and disregard for human life can never be justified, he said on September 7, history shows ‘that the recruitment of terrorists is more easily achieved in areas where human rights are trampled upon and where injustice is a part of daily life’.
‘The international community can no longer overlook the underlying causes that lead young people especially to despair of humanity, of life itself and of the future, and to fall prey to the temptations of violence, hatred and a desire for revenge at any cost,’ he said.
The Pope made his remarks during a meeting with Britain’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Kathryn Frances Colvin, at his summer residence outside Rome.
The pontiff called international terrorism a ‘true crime against humanity’ that ‘represents a formidable and immediate threat to world peace’.
He said an ‘essential part’ of fighting terrorism must be political, diplomatic and economic initiatives aimed at relieving ‘the scandalous situations of gross injustice, oppression and marginalisation which continue to oppress countless members of the human family’.
