Vatican expresses anguish at suffering of people in Holy Land

In response to reports of increasing violence in the Holy Land, the Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following declaration at midday today: "The Holy See is following with great concern and anguish the episodes of increasing mindless violence which are bloodying the Holy Land over these days. The Holy Father is close, especially in prayer, to the innocent victims, their relatives and to the peoples of that land, which is captive to those who delude themselves into thinking they can resolve the ever more dramatic problems of the region with force or unilaterally. "The Holy See invites the international community quickly to activate the means necessary for providing due humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, and joins the call to leaders of both peoples, that in the first place due respect be shown for human life, especially that of defenceless civilians and children, and that the path of negotiation be courageously resumed, the only way to arrive at the just and lasting peace to which everyone aspires." Source: VIS