Pope laments suffering in the world

(Photo from Houston Chronicle)

As much as the Catholic Church often annoys me, it does take time to talk about important things. Pope Benedict XVI used his Easter address to point out suffering in the world:

VATICAN CITY - In an Easter litany of the world’s suffering, Pope Benedict XVI lamented that “nothing positive” is happening in Iraq and decried the unrest in Afghanistan and bloodshed in Africa and Asia.

“How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world,” the pontiff told tens of thousands gathered Sunday at St. Peter’s Square on what is Christianity’s most joyful feast day.

Benedict, delivering his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” Easter address from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, read out a long list of troubling current events, saying he was thinking of the “terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, of the violation of human rights and the exploitation of persons.”

Well, the "contempt for life" is probably a reference to abortion, so I don't agree with him there. But the overall message is important: even as we celebrate, there's a lot of healing that needs to happen.

As VLWC points out, apparently Benedict XVI doesn't think much of "the surge" ("nothing positive" in Iraq). It's good to see someone not buying the administration's bullshit. McCain seems to be wallowing in it these days.