VATICAN - At the Angelus prayer the Pope mentions the feast day of St Benedict and the terrorist attacks on London: “We pray for the dead and the injured and their loved ones. But we also pray for the attackers... God loves life which he created, not death. In the name of God, stop!”

Monday, 11 July 2005

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On 10 July Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his Sunday Angelus address to reflection on Saint Benedict Abbot, patron of Europe whose feast day is celebrated on July 11 and he also asked people to pray for the victims of the recent terrorist bombings in London. Speaking of the life of St Benedict of Norcia, the Pope recalled that after studying in Rome and disappointed with city life Benedict withdrew to Subiaco, where he lived in a cave for about three years devoting himself entirely to God. Later with some disciples “he built monasteries starting a fraternal community founded on primacy of love for Christ, in which prayer and work alternate in harmony to praise God”. At Montecassino Benedict gave form to this project putting it in writing in the Rule. “On the ashes of the Roman Empire Benedict in his search first of all for the Kingdom of God, sowed, perhaps unawares, the seed of a new civilisation which would develop, integrating Christian values with the classical heritage on the one side and German and Slav cultures on the other.”
The typical aspect of Benedict’s spirituality, highlighted by the Holy Father is that “he did not found a monastic institution with the aim of evangelising the barbarians, like other great missionary monks of his time, rather he indicated to his followers that the fundamental aim indeed the only aim of life is to search for God. He was aware however that when the believer enters into deep relationship with God he is no longer content with a mediocre life of minimalist morals and superficial religiosity”. In this light we understand the expression which Benedict used to summarise his Rule as a programme of life for his monks: “Place nothing before love for Christ”. “In this consists holiness- the Pope concluded - a proposal valid for every Christian and now a pastoral urgency in our era in which we note the need to anchor life and history to sound spiritual references.”
After the Marian prayer, Benedict XVI said : “We are all deeply saddened by the atrocious terrorist attacks in London last Thursday. We pray for the dead and the injured and their loved ones. But we also pray for the attackers: may the Lord touch their hearts. To those who foment sentiments of hatred and commit repugnant acts of terrorism I say: God loves life which he created, not death. In the name of God, stop,!”. The Pope then greeted groups of visitors in different languages and told them he was going to spend a period of rest in Valle d’Aosta, a guest of the same house where Pope John Paul II stayed many times. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 11/7/2005; righe 30, parole 450)See the


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