Vatican cardinal says terrorism is destroying society, provoking fear

Published: 2004-09-13

CAMALDOLI, Italy (CNS) -- A Vatican cardinal warned that increasing acts of global terrorism are destroying modern society and provoking a widespread state of fear. "It's painful to say this, but terrorism -- especially terrorism that seeks an exploitative and inconsistent justification in religion -- is beginning to condition our lives and our society. It is destroying the bodies of individuals and the body of society," Cardinal Achille Silvestrini said Sept. 10. The cardinal, who once served as the Vatican's top foreign affairs official, spoke at an interreligious conference in the central Italian monastery town of Camaldoli. He was one of several speakers who voiced alarm at the escalating incidence and brutality of terrorism. The whole world seems caught up in "a new, huge wave of hatred," Cardinal Silvestrini said. "In the face of terror that humiliates human lives, fear dictates new rules of living," he said.

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