Unfortunately, violence continues to rage in the Middle East, the pope told several thousand people from his apartment window above St. Peter s Square. We learn with sorrow every day that more human lives are being sacrificed to the logic of hatred and revenge, while the prospects for peace grow more distant, he said. Let us pray that the spiral of violence which has been particularly atrocious in recent days will give way to the search for trust and mutual respect, so that the way of dialogue can be taken up again with determination and can finally reach peace in justice, he said. Meanwhile, the Vatican nuncio to Israel, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, has urged pilgrims not to abandon Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In a statement Feb. 16 to the Vatican missionary news agency, Fides, he said pilgrims can be an army of peace in the region.
Pilgrims come to pray, they come with respect and charity for all the other communities here.
They can be a courageous sign of hope and a seed of peace, he said. It is time to break down the barrier built by alarming media reports according to which the Holy Land is drowned in terror. Precautions must be taken, but this will not affect pilgrims, he said. He said the eventual solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute will rest on mutual respect, justice and listening by both sides.