Pope calls for end to hostilities in South Ossetia, urges moderation to young people in holidays

(August 11, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged an immediate end to hostilities in South Ossetia and the start of negotiations between Russia and Georgia over the contested province. After reciting the traditional midday ‘angelus’ prayer on Sunday, the Holy father expressed “profound anguish” over the fighting in Georgia and its breakaway province, deploring that the conflict “has already caused a great number of innocent victims and forced a great number of civilians to leave their homes.” He made an appeal for peace in the name of the common Christian roots shared by the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Christians. A great majority of Georgians and Russians are Orthodox. Calling for “an immediate end to military actions,” the pope urged all sides to “refrain, also in the name of the common Christian heritage, from further confrontations and violent retaliations that could degenerate into a wider conflict.” Russia expanded its bombing blitz on Sunday against tiny neighbour Georgia, a U.S. ally, targeting the country's capital for the first time. Georgia tried to retake control of separatist South Ossetia, which has close ties with Russia, in a military operation this week. The pope urged the international community and influential countries to “make every effort to support and promote initiatives aimed at reaching a peaceful and lasting solution, in favour of an open and respectful coexistence.” He said Roman Catholics were joining Orthodox Christians in praying for such an outcome. Pope Benedict spoke to a crowd of 9,000 gathered at midday in the main square of Bressanone, an alpine town in the northeast Italy he was on a 2-week vacation.
Before reciting the Marian ‘angelus’ prayer, Pope Benedict urged young people to discover the "simple joy" of being together, without resorting to "vulgar and violent means, to alcohol and drugs", which often lead to "degrading experiences that often end in terrible tragedy. This", he emphasized, "is a typical result of the current so-called 'society of well-being', which, in order to fill an interior emptiness and the boredom that accompanies it, leads to experiments with new, more exciting, more 'extreme' experiences. In this way, even vacation risks deteriorating into a pointless search for illusory pleasures. But this gives no rest to the spirit, the heart feels no joy and finds no peace, and instead ends up more weary and sad than before. Pope Benedict said he was addressing young people particularly because they are the ones most thirsty for life and new experiences, and therefore also those most at risk. But the advice was valid for all, the Pope said, and urged all to pray that in today’s fast-paced society, vacation may be a time of true relaxation, during which we may set aside moments for recollection and prayer, which are indispensable for profoundly rediscovering ourselves and others once again". Pope Benedict was to conclude his 2-week vacation in Bressanone on Monday and return to the papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo, south of Rome, to resume his normal schedule.