Pope Says Arab Spring 'Positive,' Urges Syria Arms Import Stop
Pope Benedict XVI has described the Arab Spring uprisings that have already removed four long-serving dictators as “positive” and appealed for a stop to arms imports to Syria.
“Arms imports must stop once and for all, because without arms imports, war cannot continue," he said in remarks to reporters on his plane to Beirut on Friday.
“Instead of importing weapons, which is a grave sin, we should import ideas of peace and creativity and find solutions to accept each other with our differences.”
The Arab Spring uprisings against authoritarian regimes were "a positive thing,” he said
"It is the desire for more democracy, for more freedom, for more cooperation and for a renewed Arab identity," Benedict added.
The pope also said he was not afraid to visit Lebanon.
He told reporters he never considered canceling the trip for security reasons, adding that "no one ever advised (me) to renounce this trip and personally, I have never considered this."
"I have come to Lebanon as a pilgrim of peace," the 85-year-old pope said upon arrival in Beirut, speaking under a canopy at the airport on a sultry afternoon. "As a friend of God and as a friend of men."
He denounced religious fundamentalism, calling it "a falsification of religion."
Source: Agence France Presse
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