THE SOLIDARITY OF THE POPE WITH THE PAIN AND SADNESS OF LEBANESE

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father, through Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., has sent a telegram to His Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon, for yesterday’s bomb blast in Beirut which left eight dead and many injured.

"Having learned of the terrible attack in Beirut, which caused so many victims", the telegram reads, "His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI unites himself in prayer with the pain of the mourning families, and with the sadness of all Lebanese. Commending the victims to the all merciful God, and imploring Him to welcome them into His light, the Holy Father expresses his profound closeness to the injured and their families, asking the Lord to help and console them in their time of trial. As he did during his apostolic trip to Lebanon, the Holy Father again condemns the violence which causes so much suffering, and asks God to give the gift of peace and reconciliation to Lebanon and the entire region. With all his heart, His Holiness invokes abundance of divine blessings upon the mourning families and all Lebanese".