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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   POPE SPEAKS OF SANCTITY, PRAYS FOR VICTIMS OF IRAQ ATTACK   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 1 NOV 2010 (VIS) - On today's Solemnity of All Saints, which   
   "invites us to raise our gaze to heaven and meditate on the fullness of divine   
   life which awaits us", the Holy Father prayed the Angelus with thousands of   
   faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.   
      
   "Sanctity, impressing Christ into one's own self, is the goal of Christian   
   life", said Pope Benedict. "We have a foretaste of the gift and beauty of   
   sanctity each time we participate in the Eucharistic liturgy, in communion with   
   that 'immense multitude' of blessed spirits who are in heaven eternally   
   acclaiming the salvation of God and the Lamb. 'The lives of the saints are not   
   limited to their earthly biographies but also include their being and working   
   in God after death. In the saints one thing becomes clear: those who draw near   
   to God do not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them'.   
      
   "Consoled by this communion of the great family of saints", he added, "tomorrow   
   we will commemorate All Souls Day. The liturgy of 2 November and the pious   
   practice of visiting cemeteries reminds us that Christian death is part of the   
   journey of assimilation to God, and will disappear when God becomes everything   
   in everyone. Separation from our earthly affections is certainly painful, but   
   we must nor fear it because, accompanied by the prayer of the Church, it cannot   
   break the profound bond that unites us in Christ".   
      
   Following the Marian prayer the Pope spoke of the attack on the Syro- Catholic   
   cathedral of Baghdad on 31 October which caused many injuries and deaths,   
   including two priests and a group of faithful attending Sunday Mass.   
      
   "I pray for the victims of this absurd violence, all the more ferocious because   
   it targeted defenceless people gathered in the house of God, which is a house   
   of love and reconciliation. I express my affectionate closeness to the   
   Christian community, which has been struck once again, and encourage pastors   
   and faithful to be strong and united in hope. In the face of such cruel   
   episodes of violence, which continue to afflict the people of the Middle East,   
   I would like to renew my heartfelt appeal for peace. Peace is a gift of God,   
   but also the result of the efforts of men and women of goodwill, of national   
   and international institutions. May everyone unite their efforts to put an end   
   to all violence".   
   ANG/VIS 20101103 (420)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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