Cardinal Seán Brady has described the continuing conflict in the Holy Land as ''appalling'' and called on both sides to accept an immediate ceasefire. He said that world politicians have failed the people of the Holy Land and called on western leaders to step up their peace efforts.
Speaking as the current conflict in the region intensified, Dr Brady said that: ''What is happening there is appalling and we should all pray that the current military offensive by Israel, as well as the attacks by Hamas on Israelis, will stop immediately.''
''Dropping leaflets to tell people to leave is meaningless. There is nowhere else to go. It is so built up that collateral damage is inevitable from any bomb which is dropped,'' Dr Brady said.
The cardinal is the latest in a long line of Church leaders to add their voices to calls for peace in the region. Dr Brady said that ''the failure to resolve this historic conflict is ultimately a failure of international political will.
''We should pray for a new determination within the international community to address this and the other conflicts of our world as a matter of priority,'' he said.
His comments come as relations between the Vatican and Israel grew tense when Tel Aviv condemned a leading cardinal for calling Gaza ''a big concentration camp''.
Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, comments were criticised by an Israeli spokesman who said: ''The vocabulary of Hamas propaganda, coming from a member of the College of Cardinals, is a shocking and disappointing phenomenon''.
The row over Cardinal Martino's remark has cast a shadow over negotiations for the Pope to visit the Holy Land in May, a trip some diplomats say is now in doubt.
Meanwhile, Trócaire is among aid agencies calling for the European Union (EU) to suspend any enhancement of relations between Israel and Europe.
Meeting in Brussels, the coalition of charities warned that any upgrading of the relations in the current context would seriously undermine the credibility of the EU.
Cardinal Brady described his visit to the Holy Land last year where he encountered a Christian community ''struggling to maintain its presence there''.
''It is a very sobering thought that in the land of our Lord's life, death and resurrection, the Christian community has gone from approximately 25 per cent of the population there 30 years ago to less than 2% today. We need to show our solidarity and support for the Christians in the Holy Land in any way we can,'' he said.
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(Source: IC)