Pope deplores Moscow bombing; archbishop calls for need to unite

Published: 2004-02-09

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II sent a telegram of condolences after a bomb ripped through a Moscow subway, leaving 39 people dead and more than 130 injured. The apparent suicide attack Feb. 6, believed carried out by a woman, was blamed on rebels from Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya. The papal telegram said the pope was "deeply saddened by this tragic news" and expressed his sympathies to the families of the victims and the wounded. It said the pope "entrusts to God's mercy the souls of those killed, as well as all the victims of violence," and offered his blessing as a comfort for the survivors. The telegram was addressed to Archbishop Antonio Mennini, apostolic nuncio to Russia. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Moscow, president of the Russian bishops' conference, said the subway attack underlined the need to unite in the struggle against terrorism. "We are deeply saddened by the attack, and we think that the criminals must have hearts of stone to destroy the lives of so many people," he said in his statement, published by the Vatican's missionary news agency, Fides.

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