Catholic leaders in Pakistan, pope condemn assassination of Bhutto

Published: 2007-12-28

THRISSUR, India (CNS) -- Catholic leaders in Pakistan and Pope Benedict XVI have condemned the assassination at an election rally of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party. "We condemn this dastardly act. It is a terrible tragedy for Pakistan," said Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Pakistan, in a Dec. 27 telephone interview with Catholic News Service from Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was assassinated. Bhutto, 54, and several others were killed Dec. 27 in a suicide attack. Hundreds of thousands of Bhutto's supporters wept, chanted and paid their last respects at her burial Dec. 28 in the town of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. Demonstrators protesting her death in cities and towns throughout the country clashed with police and burned buildings and train stations. A telegram of condolence from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, described the killing as a "brutal terrorist attack" and said, "The Holy Father expresses sentiments of deep sympathy and spiritual closeness to the members of her family and to the entire Pakistani nation."

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