Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned a bomb blast outside a Christian church in Egypt that killed 23 people on New Year’s Day, calling it a ‘vile gesture.’

The Holy Father spoke out against the attack after his weekly Angelus blessing on Sunday January 2, the day after his World Day for Peace message called for religious freedom and tolerance that came in the wake of widespread violence against Christian minorities before and during the Christmas period.

“This vile gesture of death, like that of putting bombs near to the houses of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and all of humanity,” the Holy Father said.

He added that the attack was part of a ‘strategy of violence that targets Christians,’ and which has negative repercussions on the entire population as well as offering prayers for the victims and their families.

Bomb in Egypt

The car bomb explosion, outside the Saints Coptic Christian Church in Alexandria in the first minutes of the New Year on Saturday, killed at least 23 people and injured almost 100 more as worshippers gathered to celebrate.

The suspected suicide attack was the largest in a decade aimed at the country’s Coptic Orthodox Christians, who form 10 per cent of Egypt’s 79 million people, and led to protests and increased tension between Christians and Muslims in the country.

Call for peace

The attack in Egypt took place on the same day that the Holy Father gave his message for the 44th World Day for Peace—dedicated to religious freedom and intolerance—in which he said Christians are the most persecuted religious group.

“At present Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith,” the Pope said.

“Many Christians experience daily affronts and often live in fear because of their pursuit of truth, their faith in Jesus Christ and their heartfelt plea for respect for religious freedom.

“This situation is unacceptable, since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity; furthermore it is a threat to security and peace.”

The Pope also called on political leaders and all people of goodwill not to give up when faced with ‘the negative force of egoism and violence’ and not to become jaded into thinking that conflict, which puts lives and the future at risk, is inevitable.

Widespread violence

The final days of 2010 saw further violence against Christians in Iraq as bombs planted close to the homes of Christians in Baghdad left two people dead and 13 more wounded.

The attacks were in an area of the city close to Our Lady of Salvation Church, where al-Qaeda militants laid siege in October, killing 68 worshippers.

Thousands of Christians have since fled to northern Iraq, fearing further attacks.

Violence aimed at Christian minorities elsewhere in the world also occurred during the Christmas period. Six people were killed in attacks on churches in northern Nigeria on Christmas Eve and six people were wounded by a bomb in a Catholic Church on the island of Jolo in the Philippines during the celebration of Christmas Day Mass.

The Pope deplored the ‘absurd’ violence in his Angelus address at the Vatican on St Stephen’s Day.

“It was with great sadness that I learnt about the attack on a Catholic Church in the Philippines during the celebrations for Christmas and also against Christian churches in Nigeria,” he said.

“The earth is once again stained with blood as we have seen in other parts of the world.”

Hopes for summit

The Pope also used his New Year’s Day message to announce his plans to invite religious leaders from the world’s major faiths to gather in Assisi to ‘solemnly renew the commitment by believers of every religion to live their religious faith as a service to the cause of peace.’

He said that the interfaith gathering—to be held in October in the birthplace of St Francis—is to mark the 25th anniversary of the ‘historic gesture’ of his predecessor Pope John Paul II when he convoked the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi in 1986.

“Whoever is making his way toward God cannot fail to transmit peace, and whoever builds peace cannot fail to draw nearer to God,” the Holy Father said.

In print edition:

— Extracts from the Pope’s Message for the World Day for Peace

— [email protected]