in brief" "
Religious leaders united in the struggle against terrorism. In a meeting held in recent days, and attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 20 religious leaders, including the archbishop of Liverpool, Msgr. Patrick Kelly, vice president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, representing Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, expressed the conviction that “the great evil of terrorism must be combated”. The document was also approved by four Moslem leaders and by the chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks. “I believe I speak for each one of us said the archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, as reported by the Catholic Herald, weekly of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales when I say that we are called by God to resist evil and promote justice for everyone and to try to live in peace and harmony with our neighbours”. “We pray for those who have the great responsibility of governing the nations and who pursue such noble goals with compassion, mercy and respect for innocent lives”. In reporting on the meeting, Archbishop Kelly said how pleased he was that so “many had clearly said that Islam is not our enemy. But the criminals responsible for the atrocities in the USA must be brought to justice”. He added, however, that “the means to achieve these objectives must always be in conformity with international law”. Lastly, the archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols urged Catholics to pray for “all those who are directly involved in the armed conflict”, but especially that “this war may have a rapid and just end”.
