There will be a kind of false peace in the world. People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin. Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)
First the false peace pope praying for Libya:
Vatican City, Feb 12, 2015 / 12:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his weekly general audience, Pope Francis said he was following “with concern” the news of hundreds of immigrants who perished in the Mediterranean Sea this week.
“I wish to assure you of my prayers for the victims, and encourage once again solidarity in order that no one lacks the necessary relief,” the Pope said Feb. 11.
The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, says that some 300 migrants are feared dead after their boat sank in the Mediterranean. Survivors said they had left Libya late last week.
The Italian government had launched the Mare Nostrum operation to patrol the sea to aid ships carrying migrants after 366 people died off the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013. The program was disbanded a year later, taken over by the European Union program known as Triton.
According to the BBC, Triton is less equipped than its predecessor in rescue operations, responding when lives are in immediate danger but being unable to pre-empt trouble on international waters.
In a Feb. 10 interview with Vatican Radio, Secretary General of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, (COMECE) Father Patrick Daly said “there is a growing sense of urgency within Europe about a EU-wide, Europe-wide commitment to help solve the refugee problem.”
Fr. Daly expressed “a more coordinated policy in this area, but also the EU as a whole must do all that it can to help the countries of transit from which many of our migrants come.”
Pope Francis visited the migrants of Lampedusa months ahead of the 2013 tragedy, thanking them for their “solidarity with migrants,” while condemning the “globalization of indifference” which “makes us all 'unnamed'.”
UNHCR says more than 218,000 migrants cross the Mediterranean into Italy in 2014, with some 3,500 people losing their lives on the journey.
OK just a few minutes after the prayers of the false peace pope were uttered for Libya - the Italian foreign minister is ready to fight:
(Reuters) ROME: Italy would be ready to join a U.N.-led force to battle "an active terrorist threat" after recent advances by a faction in Libya that has sworn loyalty to Islamic State militants, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday.
In an interview with SkyTG24 television, Gentiloni said Italy backed efforts by United Nations special envoy Bernardino Leon to bring warring factions to the table to try to broker a ceasefire.
But he said should talks fail, Italy "is ready to fight naturally in the context of an international mission".
"We cannot accept the idea that there's an active terrorist threat only a few hours from Italy by boat."
The situation in Libya, already chaotic, "is deteriorating", Gentiloni said, adding that Italy "cannot underestimate" the possibility of an attack by Islamic State militants.
In recent days, Italian officials have made generic statements about being willing to lead a U.N. force in Libya, but Gentiloni's comments on Friday mark a more aggressive stance.
Gentiloni spoke after media reports on Friday that fighters claiming allegiance to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria had taken control of radio and television stations in Sirte, a coastal city halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi.
Until recently, the Islamic State faction appeared to have limited power and to be confined mostly to the city of Derna, he said.
The main power struggle in Libya, which has been the focus of the U.N. talks, is between an internationally-recognised government and a rival administration set up in Tripoli after an armed faction seized the capital last summer.
Both are backed by brigades of fighters who helped oust veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but have since turned against one another in a complex conflict involving tribes, former Gaddafi troops, Islamist militants and federalist forces.
People traffickers there have taken advantage of the chaos to send tens of thousands of refugees and migrants in small, overcrowded boats towards Italy.
More than 300 migrants died trying to reach Italy from Libya in stormy seas this week. The U.N. refugee organisation says at least 218,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean by boat last year and 3,500 lives were lost.
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