Mar 18, 2008 / 09:12 am
The Latin-Rite Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Michael Sabbah, said this week, “We need leaders capable of achieving peace, as that is the only way to put a limit on extremism and begin to establish security” in the Holy Land.
“Israelis and Palestinians, after a century of violence, must understand that they can no longer defend their people with arms, as they only expose them to more violence, more fear and more insecurity. It is time for the states and politicians in leadership to accept their vocation, that is, to build up society and not destroy it,” the archbishop said in his Easter message according to a report by the SIR news agency.
“To say that peace is a risk we cannot take is the same as saying we will remain in violence and death,” he continued. “It’s up to the leaders to choose between peace and extremism. We need leaders ready to pay with their lives the price of peace and not leaders who give orders to kill and murder,” he stressed.
In his message, Archbishop Sabbah called the recent death of the Archbishop of Mosul a tragedy, and he said that after he retires he plans to remain in the Holy Land to continue working “for peace and justice in this land.”
Archbishop Sabbah will reach the retirement age of 75 on March 19.