Pope John Paul II on Tuesday condemned terrorism as "a true crime against humanity" in an address released in advance of the World Day of Peace on January 1.
"Terrorism is built on contempt for human life," the pope said in the address.
"For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity."
He cautioned that the right to defend oneself against terrorism must always "must be exercised with respect for moral and legal limits in the choice of ends and means."
The 81-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church said that next year's World Peace Day would be celebrated in the shadow of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
This had caused people throughout the world to feel a "profound personal vulnerability and a new fear for the future."
He asked how "in the present circumstances", can we speak of justice and forgiveness as the source and condition of peace. But he urged: "We can and we must, no matter how difficult this may be."
The pope called on people to pray for peace, so that at the beginning of 2002 "by the grace of God, a world in which the power of evil seems once again to have taken the upper hand will in fact be transformed into a world in which the noble aspirations of the human heart will triumph, a world in which true peace will prevail."
In an obvious reference to the US-led war in Afghanistan, the pontiff said that those guilty of terrorist crimes must be identified, but he warned that culpability was always personal and could not be extended to the nation, ethnic group, or religion to which the terrorist group belonged.
He added that international cooperation against terrorist activities must include "courageous and resolute" commitment to relieving the marginalisation which facilitates the terrorist.
"The recruitment of terrorists in fact is easier in situations where rights are trampled upon and injustices tolerated over a long period of time," he added.
"Terrorism exploits not just people, it exploits God. It ends by making him an idol to be used for one's own purposes." – Vatican City -- AFP
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
