Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Benedict XVI wanted to include a meeting with Jewish representatives as well as one with Muslim delegates in his trip to Cologne. The director of the Vatican press office, Joaquin Navarro Valls, today drew attention to the fact that these two meetings "were not in the first draft schedule of the programme and they were included later, so the pope clearly wanted them". Navarro Valls revealed that in the current context of terrorist attacks, the pope "already said the other day that dialogue between the three religions could be a very strong sign and this is an element which has marked his pontificate right away, from early on."

Even today, during the Angelus address, the pope had words full of sorrow for victims of the terrorist attacks in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Great Britain.

Yesterday, after the attack on Egypt, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, sent a telegram on behalf of the pope to the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Egypt, expressing "condolences to families of the victims" and condemning the acts as "senseless acts".

The telegram reads: "His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was deeply saddened to learn of the terrorist attacks at Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt and he expresses heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. In condemning such senseless acts, his Holiness appeals to all to renounce the way of violence which causes so much suffering to civilian populations, and instead to embrace the way of peace. Praying for the eternal repose of the dead he invokes upon all the afflicted the Almighty's blessings of comfort and strength."