Pope Benedict XVI in his Easter Sunday address called for solutions to reach peace in the Middle East.
From the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope told his followers to remember the “tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon and finally Tibet, all of which I encourage to seek solutions that will safeguard peace and the common good.”
His address came a day after he baptized a well-known Italian Muslim journalist, Magdi Allam, 55, who has received death threats for his denunciations of Islamic fanaticism.
Allam has criticized Palestinian suicide bombings, which resulted in death threats from Hamas and required him to have extra security provided by the Italian government.
Allam published a controversial book last year called “Viva Israel.” The deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam received the $1 million Dan David award in Israel in 2006 and last year was honored by the American Jewish Committee.
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