UK cardinal laments wasted billions of M.East wars


Reuters
 Date: 12-24-04

LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Billions of pounds which could be used to alleviate poverty are being wasted on war in the Middle East, Britain's leading Roman Catholic said in a Christmas Eve message on Friday.

"How is it that there is war in Iraq, violence in the Holy Land and the horror of pain and death amongst the poor and deprived who suffer from injustice and thus do not find peace?" asked Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

"What a terrible thing it is that billions -- and I mean billion of pounds -- are being spent in war in the Middle East which could have been spent bringing people out of dire poverty and malnourishment and disease."

He said Catholics could not with a clear conscience wish their fellow Christians in the Middle East and Africa a happy Christmas unless they were prepared to do everything they could to bring about peace.

Britain's role in the invasion and occupation of Iraq has been roundly and frequently condemned by the country's religious communities.

There are around 4 million Catholics in England and Wales out of a Christian population of some 37 million.

Source

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