Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Our hearts bleed for the twenty-one Coptic Egyptian citizens in Libya. The Church of Asia, bows our heads in prayer and offers our condolences and sympathy to His Holiness Pope Tawadrous II and to the families of the Martyrs and the Egyptian people and the Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.
This deliberate killing of the 21 innocent young men - killed simply for being Christian- is an act of cowardice and evil , and in the face of death, these Martyrs showed immense courage, strength and dignity.
We pray that the sacrifice of their lives brings graces of Peace for the whole Coptic family in the midst of this senseless and tragic crimes. On this First Friday of Lent, I offered my Eucharist for them, praying for the eternal rest of the souls of our twenty-one Coptic Christians and for their grieving families.
This heinous act underscores the urgent need for promotion of peace and dialogue among Religions and the urgent and pressing need to correct the distorted and false and misleading view of God and religion. This is and against the nature of God and against all religion. We pray for them and pray for the conversion of heart of all those who committed these crimes.
* Archbishop of Mumbai, president of the Latin rite Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CCBI) and the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC).
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed)