Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday announced a planned Vatican mission to
Syria will not go ahead and said he had dispatched an envoy to Lebanon
instead to meet refugees and Christian community leaders.
"Unfortunately
different circumstances and developments have not rendered possible
this initiative in the way we had hoped. I have therefore given a
special mission to Cardinal Robert Sarah," the pope said in St Peter's
Square.
Benedict also called for peace in Syria and highlighted
the "immense suffering" of civilians, urging all sides in the conflict
to pursue "paths that lead to a just cohabitation and an adequate
political solution".
"We have to do everything possible before it is too late," he said.
The
Vatican had announced last month that it would send a high-level
delegation to Syria including top Vatican officials and peace building
experts but it was seen as politically risky and potentially dangerous.
Sarah,
a Guinean cardinal, heads up the Cor Unum Pontifical Council, a Vatican
department that oversees the Catholic Church's charity work.
Benedict
said that Sarah in Lebanon will meet spiritual leaders and faithful
from Christian churches present in Syria, hold a coordination meeting of
Catholic charities and meet with refugees who have fled Syria.
Sarah's mission to Lebanon began on Wednesday and will last until Saturday.