A silent prayer vigil for peace in the Middle East, led by Archbishop Patrick Kelly, was held in the metropolitan cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool on the evening of 18 July. Kelly, who is also vice-president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and coordinator for the bishops of support to the Church in the Holy Land, recalled that “the situation in the Middle East is rapidly deteriorating and that violence can never be the solution”. Hence the appeal to “open our hearts to prayer” to “reach the hearts of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East where there is so much need for aid”. The archdiocesan initiative follows a recent declaration by the Patriarch of Antioch, Cardinal Nasrallah Peter Sfeir: “The tragic events of recent days” prompt us “to pray and to ask for the Lord’s help. We have experienced war on our territory” and “we have had enough of it”.
