{"id":1085,"date":"2012-09-16T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-16T17:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/"},"modified":"2012-09-16T17:10:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-16T17:10:00","slug":"pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cDear brothers and sisters, I pray in particular that the Lord will grant to this region of the Middle East servants of peace and reconciliation, so that all people can live in peace and with dignity,\u201d the Pope said to a congregation of over 350,000 gathered on Beirut\u2019s waterfront Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThis is an essential testimony which Christians must render here, in cooperation with all people of good will. I appeal to all of you to be peacemakers, wherever you find yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe Mass marked the final day of Pope Benedict\u2019s 3-day Apostolic Visit to Lebanon. He used the occasion to present his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation \u201cEcclesia in Medio Oriente\u201d to the Church in the Middle East. He said he hoped the document would be \u201ca guide to follow the various and complex paths where Christ goes before you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope\u2019s presence in Lebanon coincided with continued civil-war in neighboring Syria and increasing anti-United States protests across the region in part because of a film deemed insulting to Islam.<\/p>\n

\tSpeaking in French, the Pope said that in a world where violence \u201cconstantly leaves behind its grim trail of death and destruction\u201d it was urgent for all people of good will in the Middle East \u201cto serve justice and peace\u201d which is necessary for \u201cbuilding a fraternal society, for building fellowship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe path to peace, he suggested, was provided in today\u2019s Gospel where Jesus Christ reveals \u201cthat he must suffer and be put to death, and then rise again.\u201d This is news which is \u201cshocking and disturbing\u201d to his disciplines. It also \u201ccontradicts the expectations of many\u201d as they discover \u201ca Messiah who suffers, a Messiah who serves and not some triumphant political savior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBrothers and sisters, the path on which Jesus wishes to guide us is a path of hope for all,\u201d said the Pope to the vast Beirut crowd.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cJesus\u2019 glory was revealed at the very time when, in his humanity, he seemed weakest, particularly through the incarnation and on the cross. This is how God shows his love; he becomes our servant and gives himself to us. Is this not an amazing mystery, one which is at times difficult to accept?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAt the conclusion of the Mass the Pope presented his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation to over 300 bishops gathered from all across the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\tThe Pope prayed that the gospel \u201ccontinue to resonate\u201d in the region where Jesus lived and spoke.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cMay it be lived today and forever!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region.<\/p>\n

\t“Dear brothers and sis…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-africa"],"yoast_head":"\nPope asks Christians to be servants of peace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region. “Dear brothers and sis...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region. “Dear brothers and sis...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-16T17:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/\",\"name\":\"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-16T17:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-16T17:10:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region. “Dear brothers and sis...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace","description":"Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region. “Dear brothers and sis...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace","og_description":"Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region. “Dear brothers and sis...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-09-16T17:10:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/","name":"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-16T17:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-16T17:10:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Beirut, Lebanon, Sep 16, 2012 \/ 11:10 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI told an open-air Mass in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that the Christians of the Middle East must be peacemakers in the often troubled region. “Dear brothers and sis...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/pope-asks-christians-to-be-servants-of-peace\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope asks Christians to be servants of peace"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}