Today’s General Audience, mostly in the rain:

The murder of the Christian minister, Pierre Gemayel in Beirut yesterday evening should prompt the Lebanese people to work together to build national unity and countries with the welfare of the Middle East at heart to strive to eliminate injustice afflicting it. Benedict XVI talked about the latest murder in Lebanon at the end of the general audience, launching an appeal to the Lebanese people to refute violence and to the international community to face the tragic situation in the Middle East.

The pope expressed “profound sorrow” for the “brutal murder” of Gemayel, which he “firmly condemned”. He said: “I give assurance of my prayers and spiritual closeness to the family in mourning and the beloved Lebanese people.” He continued: “Faced with the dark forces that are seeking to destroy the country, I invite all Lebanese not to allow hatred to triumph but to develop national unity, justice and reconciliation and to work together to build a future of peace together. I invite state leaders who have the interest of Lebanon at heart to contribute to a global, negotiated solution to heal the situations of injustice that have marked the region for many years.”

He continued with his catechesis on Paul, today emphasizing Paul’s thinking on Church:

Underlining the need for unity however does not mean “maintaining that Christian life should be made uniform and hammered out according to only one way of working,” said Benedict XVI, adding that Paul himself had cited countless Charismatic manifestations of the Spirit. For the apostle, then, everything should “contribute to weaving the ecclesial fabric”, both vertical, between Jesus and the faithful, and horizontal, between “all those who distinguish themselves in the world because they invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He added: “It is well understood how desirable it is that what St Paul hoped for will be realized.”

More on Lebanon, from AsiaNews:

The Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir will preside over the funeral at 1pm on Thursday, 22 November, in the Cathedral of St George in the heart of Beirut. He said he considers “the murder of Minister Gemayel as a new blow to much desired peace in the country after years of war” and he called attention to the necessity of keeping calm and not reacting violently, because Lebanon is no longer able to pay the price of violence. The patriarch finally appealed to the people’s conscience, that they may double efforts to stop this campaign of violence, expressing his solidarity with the family of Minister Gemayel. The religious ceremony for the murdered minister was desired by the Gemayel family as a “new act of obedience to God’s will.” After the funeral, the body will be taken to the minister’s village of origin in Bikfaya, near the tomb of his uncle Bashir, killed in 1982, his grandfather Pierre, founder of the Lebanese Phalange Party, and the daughter of President Bachir, young Maya, also killed 22 years ago by a car bomb.