by Card. Oswald Gracias*

As president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), the Archbishop of Mumbai sends AsiaNews a message of condolence to the Christian communities in Egypt and Libya. "We pray for them and for the conversion of the hearts of those who have committed these crimes."

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Our hearts bleed  for the  twenty-one Coptic Egyptian citizens in Libya.  The Church of Asia, bows our   heads in prayer and  offers  our condolences and sympathy to His Holiness Pope Tawadrous II and to the families of the Martyrs and  the Egyptian people and the Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.

This deliberate killing of the  21 innocent young men -  killed simply for being Christian- is an act of  cowardice and evil , and in the face of death, these Martyrs  showed  immense courage, strength and dignity.

We pray that the sacrifice of their lives brings graces  of Peace for  the whole Coptic family in the midst of this senseless and tragic crimes.    On this First Friday of Lent, I offered  my Eucharist for them, praying  for the eternal rest of the souls of our twenty-one Coptic Christians  and for their grieving families.

This heinous act underscores the urgent need for promotion of peace and dialogue among Religions and the urgent and pressing need to correct the distorted and false and misleading view of God and religion. This is and against the nature of God  and against all religion. We pray for them and pray for the conversion of heart of all those who committed these crimes.

* Archbishop of Mumbai, president of the Latin rite Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CCBI) and the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC).

(Nirmala Carvalho contributed)

 

• INDIA
• -
• EGYPT
• copts
• martyrs
• dialogue
• peace
• religions
• islam