To His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor
Archbishop of Westminster
Deeply saddened by the news of the terrorist attacks in central London the Holy Father offers fervent prayers for the victims and for all those who mourn. While he deplores these barbaric acts against humanity he asks you to convey to the families of the injured his spiritual closeness at this time of grief. Upon the people of Great Britain he invokes the consolation that only God can give in such circumstances.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano
Secretary of State
The law of history is not on the side of the terrorists. The past is littered with the burned-out husks of attempts at bringing about political change through violence. Violence, as we know, breeds violence, and violence ultimately destroys itself. If we stand firm, if we believe in peace, then terror will not succeed; it will exhaust itself in time.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Conner, Archbishop of Westminster
Be assured of our fraternal communion and compassion at this testing time. May God inspire peaceful initiatives in human hearts.
André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris
We in the faith communities will have to continue to stand and work together for the well being of our nation and for our shared understanding of the life that God calls us to. I hope that we shall all keep that vision alive at this deeply sad and testing time.
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Our faith in Islam calls us to be upholders of justice. The day after London was bloodied by terrorists finds us determined to help secure this justice for the innocent victims of yesterday's carnage. The terrorists may have thought that they could divide us and make us panic. It is our hope that we will all prove them conclusively wrong.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain
Please pray for the dead, the injured, their families and friends and all those affected by the bomb blasts.
Please pray also for the emergency services.
Please pray for the Muslim community in Britain; for peace and reconciliation.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? Yet in all this we are conquerors, through Him who has granted us His love.
Romans 8: 35 - 37