Vatican refuses to comment on reports it won't be terrorist target

Published: 2004-08-30

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican press office would not comment on reports that a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida allegedly said the Vatican would not be a target when it attacks Italy. The Vatican, while declining comment Aug. 30, pointed to an Aug. 28 statement by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, saying that he hoped everyone would recognize that Pope John Paul II has been an untiring supporter of peace and of human rights for all peoples. In a statement posted on an Islamic Web site Aug. 29, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades-European Battalion -- the same group that claimed responsibility for the March train bombings in Madrid -- repeated its earlier threats to turn Italy "into hell" unless the government withdraws its troops from Iraq. "We declare that the Vatican will never be one of our targets," said the posting, translated from the Arabic by the French news agency, Agence France Presse. It was impossible to verify if the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades really posted the message.

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