Pope condemns ‘terrorist attack’ on Catholic Church in Jolo
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2019 04:08:21 +0000
POPE Francis condemned the twin bombings inside a cathedral in Jolo, Sulu on Sunday as a “terrorist attack” and asked for prayers for the victims of the incident.
“Let us pray for the victims of the terrorist attack on the Cathedral of Jolo, in the Philippines,” the Pope said in a post on Twitter.
“May the Lord, Prince of Peace, convert the hearts of the violent, and grant the inhabitants of that region a peaceful coexistence,” he said.
On Sunday, Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president said, “We condole with
the families of the several soldiers and civilians who were killed by the explosions.”
Valles also expressed the bishops’ sympathies to those who were wounded with the rest of the church-goers inside the Cathedral and the rest of the church community in the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo.
The bombings at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, where armed rebel groups are said to be active, happened days after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which is part of 2014 peace deal of the government with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The BOL creates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, replacing the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
However, Sulu, one of the ARMM provinces, voted against its inclusion to the Barmm, which would have greater powers and more financial resources. CATHERINE A. MODESTO
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