Posted on 09/13/2012 12:26:40 PM PDT by NYer
.- The Vatican voiced its “firmest possible condemnation” of the fatal attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans including the ambassador to the country.
“Nothing, in fact, can justify the activity of terrorist organizations and homicidal violence,” read the statement issued by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. Sept. 13.
“Along with our sadness, mourning and prayers for the victims, we again express the hope that, despite this latest tragedy, the international community may discover the most favorable ways to continue its commitment in favor of peace in Libya and the entire Middle East.”
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed Tuesday Sept. 11 in a fire started after the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was stormed by violent mobs.
The 52-year-old, who was a native of California, had been a career diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service since 1991. United States officials are now investigating whether the attack was planned by militant jihadist groups.
The violence was sparked by the posting on YouTube of extracts of a low-budget U.S. film mocking the Prophet Mohammed, the 6-7th century founder of Islam.
Similar scenes of unrest have now been witnessed across North Africa and the Middle East, most notably in Yemen and Egypt. In the Yemeni capital of Sanaa Sept.13 demonstrators stormed the grounds of the US embassy and burned the American flag before being driven back by security forces. Reports of protests are also emerging from Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.
Fr. Lombardi’s comments come on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Visit to the Middle East. The Pontiff is making a 3-day trip to Lebanon Sept.14 – 16 to sign his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Church in the region.
Yesterday at the conclusion of his weekly General Audience, the Pope called upon the Christians in the Middle East to help create peace in their often troubled countries.
“I exhort all Christians of the Middle East, both those born there and the newly arrived, to be builders of peace and architects of reconciliation,” said the Pope at the Vatican Sept. 12.
“Let us pray to God that he may fortify the faith of Christians in Lebanon and the Middle East, and fill them with hope.”
I’m OK with most of the statement. It is what I would expect from the Catholic Church, that they desire a peaceful means of settlement in the Middle East. The part I have the trouble with is the desire to see Christians in the Middle East seek a peaceful solution to the problems there. Especially the appeal to “newly arrived” Christians to the Middle East. Uhhh...based on what I’ve read, there aren’t very many of them. Thanks to the religious cleansing of the Middle East being conducted by Islam, for Christians the Middle East is a place to be from, not a place to go.
All of North Africa and the ME, including Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, was part of Christendom until conquered by Islam in the 9-14th centuries. Those Christians who remained, like the Copts, the Chaldeans, The Syrians, The Armenians, and the Greeks, have literally been there since the time of Christ.
These are the communities which Obama's "Arab Spring" has sworn to obliterate. This is nothing new for Obama. He campaigned vigorously for his Luo tribal brother Raila Odinga in Kenya in 2006. When Odinga lost, thousands of Kenyan Christians were massacred.
That story ... and this one ... will make no impression on the US electorate because the MSM will not cover them.
Actually, there are thousands of christian refugees who have fled Iraq, Iran, Syria and other countries, into Lebanon. What makes Lebanon unique is the fact that Christians and Muslims have co-existed for centuries. The problems that occur there stem from an influx of Hezbollah and other militants. So far, the Lebanese army (trained in the US) have managed to overcome those incidents.
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