Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for an end to fighting in Libya and the Ivory Coast at his weekly general audience at the Vatican.

Speaking this morning at St Peter’s Square, the Holy Father said ‘violence and hatred are always a defeat’ and that he encourages a process of pacification and dialogue.

The Pope added that he was praying for the victims of conflict and that he feels ‘near to all those who are suffering.’

Catholic aid agency Caritas this week condemned a reported massacre of a thousand people in the town of Dueloue, in western Ivory Coast, and tens of thousands of refugees have since sought sanctuary in a Catholic mission in the town, following the upsurge in violence.

Pope Benedict said his thoughts were with all the people of Ivory Coast who have been ‘traumatised by the painful internal conflict and the serious social and political tensions.’

The Holy Father added that Cardinal Peter Turkson, a special envoy who had been sent to the Ivory Coast to encourage a peaceful solution, had been blocked from entering the country.

Paul Bhatti (below left) brother of Pakistan’s slain minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, spoke with Syed Muhammad Abudl Khabir Azad, imam of the mosque of Badshahi of Lahore, Pakistan, as they attended today’s general audience.

“We have forgiven the assassins because this is what the Christian faith teaches us and what our brother passed on to us,” Paul Bhatti said at a conference organised by the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome. However, he added, ‘we seek the ‘truth’ and the continuation of Shabbaz’s work for Pakistan and religious minorities.’

At the general audience the Holy Father also urged Catholics to rediscover St Therese’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul.

The 19th-century Carmelite saint’s teaching of ‘the ‘little way’ of holiness has been so influential in our time,’ he said.