Pope Says in Baabda that Vengeance must be Rejected, Calls for Harmonious Society

Pope Benedict XVI said on Saturday that mankind should reject vengeance and instead pardon the offenses of others, as he urged the Middle East's Christians and Muslims to forge a harmonious society by rejecting some harmful ideologies.

Those who desire to live in peace must have a change of heart, and that involves "rejecting revenge, acknowledging one’s faults, accepting apologies without demanding them and, not least, forgiveness," he said at Baabda palace on the second day of his visit to Lebanon.

"Only forgiveness, given and received, can lay lasting foundations for reconciliation and universal peace," he said as he addressed the country's top political and religious leaders as well as the diplomatic corps after meeting with them at the presidential palace.

“We should unify for a single interest which is peace,” he said while calling for coordination between the society's members and the officials to reach a respect that helps improve the people's quality of life.

Without pointing fingers, he said "some ideologies undermine the foundations of society. We need to be conscious of these attacks on our efforts to build harmonious coexistence."

To that end, cultural, social and religious differences should lead to a new kind of fraternity "wherein what rightly unites us is a shared sense of the greatness of each person and the gift which others are to themselves, to those around them and to all humanity."

"Verbal and physical violence must be rejected, for these are always an assault on human dignity, both of the perpetrator and the victim."

He also appealed for religious freedom in the Middle East, calling it fundamental for stability in a region bloodied by sectarian strife.

He said religious freedom was a "fundamental right."

The freedom to practice one's religion "without danger to life and liberty must be possible to everyone," Benedict added.