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His Beatitude Béchara Boutros Raï
Patriarch of Antioch for Maronites
Bkerké
Learning of the terrible attack that took place in Beirut, which injured and killed numerous people, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI shares through prayer in the sorrow of the grieving families and the sadness of all the people of Lebanon. He entrusts the victims to God, who is full of mercy, imploring him to welcome them into his light. He expresses his profound sympathy for the injured and their families, asking the Lord to aid and console them in their trial. As he did during his apostolic voyage to Lebanon, the Holy Father once again condemns the violence that brings about such suffering and asks God to grant the gift of peace and reconciliation to Lebanon and the entire region. His Holiness wholeheartedly invokes the abundance of divine blessings upon the grieving families and upon all the people of Lebanon!
Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone
Secretary of State of His Holiness
[Translation by Joseph Trabbic]