ROME:(WN)-Pope Francis met Wednesday morning with the families of nine of the victims
of a terrorist attack which took place in Dhaka, the capital city of
Bangladesh, last summer.The attack was carried out July 1, 2016 during a
hostage scenario in the Hotel Artisan Bakery café in Dhaka. Twenty-eight people
died in the attack - including six gunmen and two police officers.
Most
of the 20 hostages killed in the attack were foreigners from Italy and Japan,
with one from India and one from the U.S. Although the attack was staged by
radical Islamist militants, authorities said the gunmen had no ties to the
Islamic State, the BBC reports. Pope Francis met February 22 with 36 family
members of the nine Italian victims of the attack. During the visit he embraced
and comforted the families, Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reports.
“It’s
easy to take the road from love that leads to hatred, while it is difficult to
do the opposite: from bitterness and hatred to go towards love,” he said. “You
are left in anger, bitterness and desire for revenge, but you have embarked,
with the pain inside, on the path of love to build and help the people of
Bangladesh, especially young people so that they can study: this is to sow
peace and I thank you, for me it is an example.”
The
bishop of Alife-Caiazzo, Valentino Di Cerbo, was also present at the meeting
and presented profiles on the lives of the nine victims to the Pope. During the
visit, Francis was also presented with nine olive tree seedlings with the names
of the victims written on pictures of doves attached.
Those
present also shared about special projects they are working on following the
tragedy as a way to honor their loved ones: one brother of a victim is leaving
soon to volunteer in Dhaka with Aid to the Church in Need and another family
has helped to build a church in a small town in the south of Bangladesh.
Another
project provides study grants for young people in Bangladesh. One day after the
attack, the pope sent a letter expressing his heartfelt condolence and
condemning the “barbarous” act as an offense “against God and humanity.” Signed
on behalf of the Pope by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro
Parolin, the letter said that in commending the dead to God’s mercy, “His
Holiness gives the assurance of his prayers for the grieving families and the
wounded.”
As
he often does following violent attacks or deadly natural disasters, Pope
Francis also remembered the victims during his Sunday Angelus July 3, praying
for the conversion of persons “blinded by hate” who commit such acts of
violence. “I express my closeness to the families of the victims and the
wounded in yesterday’s attack in Dhaka,” he said after the Angelus, also
leading the crowds in praying the Hail Mary.
On
a typically busy morning at the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke at least twice on
Thursday in ways that recognized the values of other religious outlooks while
he promoted the faithful practice of Catholicism. The subject of Francis’s
homily at the daily Mass was hypocrisy. He criticized the “scandal” of “saying
one thing and doing another.”
Many
of these hypocrites, Francis implied, according to the Vatican’s text of his
homily, are Catholics who act rigorously in their ritual observance but don’t
apply the religion’s values to their lives. “A totally double life: ‘I am very
Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this association and that one; but
my life is not Christian, I don’t pay my workers a just wage, I exploit people,
I am dirty in my business, I launder money’ A double life. And so many
Christians are like this, and these people scandalize others.”
He
then quoted a sentiment that he said he has heard expressed repeatedly: “But to
be a Catholic like that, it’s better to be an atheist.” He has also been friendly
toward Jews, particularly through his longtime friend, Argentine Rabbi Abraham
Skorka. On Thursday, Skorka led a group of rabbis to the Vatican, where they
gave Francis a new edition of the Torah.
Looking
at the text of the five books of Moses, the most holy books for Jews as well as
a key part of the Christian Old Testament, Francis called the Torah “the Lord’s
gift, his revelation, his word,” according to the Vatican’s text of his
remarks. It is believed that Pope Francis may make a trip to Bangladesh
sometime in 2017, although no dates have been announced.
Newly
installed Cardinal and Archbishop of Dhaka, Patrick D’Rozario, the first
prelate from Bangladesh to receive a red hat, told journalists in November that
if the Pope comes, it will likely be near the end of 2017, after the country’s
monsoon season. Pope Francis’s visit to Bangladesh will be “a great event for
the whole Church in the country, especially for interreligious harmony, the
rights of government workers and for climate change,” Cardinal D’Rozario said.
“He’s
a kind of ‘spiritual guru,’ the Holy Father,” the cardinal said, predicting the
visit will “boost-up the spirituality, the communion of all the people.” It is
possible the pope’s visit with the families of victims February 22 means he
will not be visiting the country after all. However, if he does go, it is a
strong sign of Francis’s connection to the reality the country faces.
Islam
is the major religion in Bangladesh by far. As of 2013, some 89 percent of the
population was Muslim, with only around 10 percent Hindu, and Christians and
Buddhists making up less than 1 percent of the population.
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