Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has expressed dismay that the conflict in the Middle East has persisted for so long and lamented a lack of dialogue to bring lasting peace, according to messages released Monday by the Vatican.
The pontiff had made several impassioned pleas for a cease-fire during the recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. He made his latest appeal for reconciliation in a message that was read during a Mass on Sunday at a religious gathering in the Italian sea resort of Rimini.
"In this moment of profound trouble, the thoughts of the Holy Father are with the Holy Land and the Middle East regions," said the message released Monday.
"Populations live there who are today tormented by enmity, by the absence of dialogue and of reconciliation, by the violence which tramples every right and legitimate expectation of people of good will," the message said.
The pope requested prayers that God "touch the heart of all those who are involved in a conflict that has lasted too much time and which has claimed countless victims." He expressed hope that those who live in the Middle East "recognize themselves as brothers and work together for a just and lasting peace."
Benedict has been following Middle East developments from the Vatican summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, in the Alban Hills near Rome.