Pope pleads for peace in Libya
March 21, 2011
During his regular Angelus audience on Sunday, March 20, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of his “great apprehension” about military action in Libya, and issued “an urgent appeal to everyone with political and military responsibilities to concern themselves above all with the safety and wellbeing of the citizens, guaranteeing access to humanitarian aid.”
The Holy Father said that he had been following reports of events in Libya—and elsewhere in North Africa—with “disquiet and fear” in recent days. During his annual Lenten Retreat, which had taken up the preceding week, he had been praying steadily for the people of that region, he said.
In his address to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope reflected on the day’s Gospel, a reading from St. Matthew recounting the story of the Transfiguration. That event, the Pontiff said, “is not a change in Jesus but the revelation of his divinity.”
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Further information:
- Angelus: Plea for Safety of Libyan, North African Peoples (VIS)
- Pope appeals for people of Libya (Vatican Radio)
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