Pope condemns Pussy Riot

The Pope said this during his meeting with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Illarion in the Vatican.

In February, “Pussy Riot”, a girls’ punk rock band, made an unexpected and unsanctioned performance in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, calling on the Mother of God to oust President Putin. The Russian Orthodox Church and many Russians find this performance offensive to believers’ feelings.

Two of the girls were sentenced to 2 years in prison, and one was released on probation.

The Pope says that he is perplexed why a number of the world’s media sources support “Pussy Riot”.

Catholic Church engages in Syria peace talks

Pope Benedict XVI has committed the Catholic Church to a peace mission in Syria dispatching a high-profile delegation to the country.

Vatican Secretary of State and the pope’s right-hand man, Tarcisio Bertone, announced this decision on October 16 to a synod of bishops saying: “We cannot be mere spectators of a tragedy such as the one that is unfolding in Syria.”

The delegation will be composed of top Vatican officials and leading prelates from three countries with experience of conflict: Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Vietnam.

Syrian Catholics have traditionally been strongly in favour of President Bashar al-Assad’s secular regime, which defended their minority’s rights. However the uprising left local Christians divided on support for the rebels.

Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch Bechara Rai told AFP earlier the move did not mean Christians were supporting Assad. “To the Westerners who say Christians are supporting the Syrian regime, I say that Christians are with the state, not with the regime,” he said. “They want the stability of the country, not of the regime.”

Voice of Russia, Interfax