World must do more to support Iraqi refugees, says Vatican official

Published: 2007-04-18

ROME (CNS) -- The international community must do more to welcome and support the thousands of refugees daily fleeing the "horrific violence" in Iraq, a Vatican official said. "The world is witnessing an unprecedented degree of hate and destructiveness in Iraq," which not only destroys the "social tissue and the unity of Iraq," but is exerting "a widening deadly impact" on the whole Middle East, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi. The Vatican's representative to U.N. and other international organizations in Geneva spoke there April 17 at an international conference addressing the humanitarian needs of Iraq's refugees and internally displaced people. Catholic News Service in Rome obtained a copy of his text. The archbishop said history has shown that the international community can be effective in creating "durable solutions" to the massive displacement of peoples. Now nations must help Iraq's refugees and internally displaced people by providing "a coordinated, effective and generous response," he said.

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