Pope Asks for Big Turnout at Syria Peace Prayer
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Pope Francis asked for a big turnout at a Vatican vigil on Saturday for peace in Syria and thanked the world's faithful and non-believers for their support.
"May the cry for peace ring out loud around the world," the pope told tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square at his weekly audience on Wednesday.
"Peace begins in our hearts," he said.
Speaking to groups of Arab-speaking faithful from Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, the pope said: "Particularly for you, I say that the tribulations, the violence, the evil will never win against Jesus.”
The Vatican and Christian minorities in the Middle East have protested against the prospect of U.S.-led military strikes against President Bashar Assad's regime, warning about the rise in radical Islamism and pointing to the Christian exodus from Iraq.
The 76-year-old on Sunday called for a day of fasting and prayer for peace, saying: "War leads to more war.”
He also condemned the alleged use of chemical weapons saying that "God and history" would judge perpetrators.
04 September 2013, 15:49
11
To M14 and alike, the pope is an evil. Since he sides with Bashar against terror.... I never really heard the word peace coming from Saudi Arabia since it was created.
04 September 2013, 17:49
00
Allah yisma3 minnak ya Abouna. Your heartfelt prayers for peace are appreciated in these times of trouble. Too bad there are imbeciles that cannot read and have to mock the Pope, but he never said that it is for the protection of the mass-murderers that he is against the military intervention; he's against it as it may cause additional deaths and in the process also help Baschar's best friends and protectors - al Qaeda and the like - to fester in the region. God bless Syria and damn to flames the tyrant who is destroying it.
