The Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences expressed “deep anguish and grave concern over the renewed escalation of violence in the Middle East.”
“The recent cycles of bombardment and retaliation, involving major global and regional powers, risk plunging the region and the world into a conflict of incalculable human and economic consequences,” the bishops warned in their March 3 statement, as they called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities and for all parties to exercise moral responsibility, resisting the spiral of escalation that leads only to deeper suffering and irreversible loss.”
“We invite all our local Churches across Asia in this season of Lent to intensify prayer, fasting, and concrete acts of solidarity for peace,” the bishops added.