| | Island of Formica (TP - Sicily), 24th September 2001
Brother Terrorists,
the Rectors of the Universities and Research Centres of the Order of Friars Minor enclosed on the Island of Formica (TP - Sicily), and all the Franciscans of the world weep and pray, thinking of you.
It is not possible to combat riches, power, violence, injustice and ethnic-social discrimination by bathing the earth with innocent blood, just as the rich do, and the powerful, the violent.
Think of Saint Francis, who for 800 years has sent out thousands of his friars to defend the poor, the weak, the forgotten, even to the point of death.
If the thirst for justice unites us, let us put to death within us violence and injustice. Let us die so that no one dies. God, the Almighty and Merciful, cannot bless any of us who becomes the assassin of his brother.
Before the innocent blood of Jesus, poured out for us, we learn how to combat evil which dominates the world, the demon that separates us from Love.
With much love,
Your Franciscan Brothers
Text approved by the Assembly today the 24th day of September 2001.
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2001