Pope John Paul II turned his thoughts to victims of the Asian tsunami disaster in his New Year's prayers as the death toll edged towards 126,000
Published:
2 January 2005 y., Sunday
Pope John Paul II turned his thoughts to victims of the Asian tsunami disaster in his New Year's prayers as the death toll edged towards 126,000, and urged the world to strive towards peace through dialogue, justice and forgiveness.
The 84-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church addressed a special greeting to ambassadors of countries hit by the "terrible calamity" last Sunday in a sermon he read in its entirety at St Peter's Basilica.
"I assure them of my prayers for the victims of the catastrophe and for their families and I take note with satisfaction of the movement of solidarity which is developing everywhere in the world," he added.
"This sort of human solidarity, along with the grace of God, gives hope for better days to come in the year that begins today," he said.
A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff started off 2005 by celebrating mass in his private chapel at midnight for victims of the disaster that struck six days ago.
The pope, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease but was in relatively good form, said World Peace Day Saturday was "an invitation to Christians and to all men to reaffirm their wish to build peace".
Šaltinis:
nst.com.my
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Militants in the Philippines have killed a head teacher from this school in Jolo. An official from the army said the man was beheaded.
more »
Ruca is no ordinary police dog. Instead of sniffing out drugs and explosives, he puts his nose to fighting the piracy industry.
more »
Afghans vent their anger on the streets of Kabul. They accuse American troops of burning a copy of Islam's holiest book, the Koran, during a raid in Maidan Wardak province last week.
more »
73% of Europeans consider poverty to be a widespread problem in their country while 89% want urgent action by their government to tackle the problem.
more »
Parliament adopted three urgent resolutions on the need for the EU to impose sanctions further to the violent repression of a demonstration in Guinea Conakry, the abolition of the death penalty in Iran, and access for humanitarian organisations to the 250,000 civilians displaced by the civil war and held in camps in Sri Lanka.
more »
The award ceremony of the Lorenzo Natali Prizes for Journalism took place today during the 2009 European Development Days.
more »
The European Parliament's 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded to Russian civil rights defence organization Memorial, and their three representatives Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, as well as all other human rights defenders in Russia.
more »
Taking into account changes on domestic money markets AB DnB NORD Bankas, a member of international financial group shall change individual and corporate time deposit rates from October 22.
more »
Wild birds know no borders, so the conservation of endangered species requires trans-frontier cooperation.
more »
New safety standards for children's sleeping items - including duvets, baby sleeping bags and cot mattresses - which should help to prevent many cot –related accidents, were given a green light today by EU Member States.
more »