On Sunday, Pope Benedict the 16th decried the violence in Iraq and elsewhere during his Easter Sunday address. He spoke before thousands of worshipers in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Benedict: “Afghanistan is marked by growing unrest and instability. In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees. In Lebanon, the paralysis of the country’s political institutions threatens the role that the country is called to play in the Middle East and puts its future seriously in jeopardy.”