Pope Benedict urges Christians in the Middle East to be peacemakers at an open-air mass in Beirut attended by hundreds of thousands of people. He urged Christians in the Middle East to work for peace to counter ‘the grim trail of death and destruction’ in the world, in a sermon delivered in Lebanon as civil war raged in neighbouring Syria. The open-air mass was held on Beirut's Mediterranean seafront and attended by 350,000 worshippers and leaders of Lebanon's Christian and Muslim communities. Peace between warring factions and among the many religious groups in the Middle East has been a central theme of the Pope's visit to Lebanon, along with his call to Christians not to leave the region despite war and growing pressure from radical Islamists.
Pray: for the volatile situation in the Middle East and for the Christians who live and work there. (Ps.85:8)