Advertise in this spot on CatholicCulture.org. View all ads.

Catholic World News News Feature

Vatican newspaper: "Cease-fire immediately" July 24, 2006

"Cease-fire immediately," blares the headline across five columns on the front page of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano dated July 24.

The daily newspaper of the Holy See devotes the majority of its front page to the message of Pope Benedict XVI for peace in the Middle East, delivered during the Angelus meditation on Sunday.

The title displays in heavy type the word "immediately" in capital letters, to emphasize the Pope's call for peace. In his message, Pope Benedict repeated his call for a cease-fire in Lebanon that he made on Thursday, when he originally called for a special day of prayer and penance for peace on this past Sunday.

The newspaper reproduced the entirety of the Pope's message from Sunday including his call for the recognition of "the right of Lebanese to the integrity and sovereignty of their country, the right of the Israelis to live in peace in their State, and the right of the Palestinians to have a free and sovereign homeland." Benedict also asked for a "fair and lasting peace" in the Middle East, and for an immediate cease-fire, which the newspaper used as its headline quote.

In his message from last Thursday, he had also pleaded for humanitarian aid agencies to come to the assistance of the people in the war zone, as well as the opening of negotiations between reasonable and responsible leaders "to put an end to the objective situations of injustice in the area."

Since the beginning of the Israeli attacks on the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon launched on July 12, L'Osservatore Romano has heavily criticized the violence on several occasions, and on Friday in particular when it denounced "the profanation of the life" and "the profanation of the Holy Land" by the bombardments.

On Monday, as she was ostensibly headed to Jerusalem for diplomatic meetings on the crisis, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made an unexpected stop in Beirut. Before her departure from Washington, she said the need for "a cease-fire is urgent" while adding that it "is important to meet the conditions that would make it viable." While waiting for these conditions to be met, the United States maintains its support for Israel in the continuation of its offensive against Hezbollah.

Attempts by European diplomats to push more strenuously for a cease-fire immediately remain for the moment without success. An international summit, with the participation of Russia, the United States, the principal European and Arab countries, the secretary-general of the United Nations, the senior representative from the European Union on foreign policy and security, and the president of the World Bank, is planned in Rome for Wednesday. The conference concerning Lebanon will discuss the cease-fire, the release of hostages, prisoners of war, and guarantees of safety in accordance with the decisions adopted during the recent summit of leaders of the Group of 8 nations in Saint Petersburg, Russia.