VATICAN CITY (CNS): With the latest Middle East peace plan in jeopardy, Pope John Paul II warned that Israelis and Palestinians had fallen into an “endless vortex of violence and reprisal”.
He said it would take a combination of justice and forgiveness to climb out of this deadly cycle.
The Pope made the comments at a noon blessing from his apartment window above St Peter’s Square on June 15, at the end of one of the bloodiest weeks in the Middle East.
The violence, including Palestinian suicide bombings against civilian targets and Israeli rocket attacks on militants and their families, left Church officials disappointed about prospects for the “road map” peace plan backed by the US administration.
“Once again, these have been days of blood and death for the inhabitants of the Holy Land, who have entered into an endless vortex of violence and reprisal,” the Pope said.
“To everyone I would like to repeat the appeal I have often made in the past: There is no peace without justice, there is no justice without forgiveness. I recall this once again today with conviction, addressing all the inhabitants of the Holy Land,” he said.
