Pope Benedict XVI today offered prayers for this week's Middle East summit at Annapolis, saying he hoped the participants would find the "wisdom and courage" needed to bring peace to the Holy Land.

He said he hoped the meeting would relaunch negotiations "to find a just and definitive solution to the conflict which for 60 years has bloodied the Holy Land and provoked so many tears and suffering among two peoples".

Pope Benedict was speaking at a ceremony at St Peter's at which he gave 23 new cardinals their rings of office and urged them to work for "peace and unity", a day after he had given the new 'Princes of the Church' their red hats. The Pope last held a consistory to create new cardinals in March last year, when he installed fifteen.

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Filed under: * International News & Commentary • Middle East • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

1. tired wrote: Contrast this helpful gesture (“offered prayers”) with the recent interview by the ABC.  As for the AC in particular: “On relations with the Anglicans Communion, Cardinal Kasper told The Times during a recess that dialogue was “complicated” by its internal crisis over the ordination of women and homosexual clergy. “We hope they make a decision very soon. They cannot postpone all this crisis. There must be a decision made. But it is in their hands, not ours.” The RCC would be merited in concluding, thus far, that much of the AC is not very concerned by ecumenical implications - at least TEC is certainly not. November 26, 9:33 am | [comment link]

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