World groans in agony - Cardinal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/6533593.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The world is "groaning in agony" as a result of the pain inflicted on innocent people around the globe, the Archbishop of Westminster has said.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was among 1,000 worshippers taking part in a Good Friday procession to London's Westminster Cathedral.

They walked for a mile behind a cross, in silence apart from the constant beat of a drum.

He spoke of child poverty and abuse and the crisis in Zimbabwe.

In an address given from the steps of the cathedral, he said: "We ought to remember that every innocent victim is a person.

"How can we understand such evil that occurs in our world and in many cases our own country?

"There are so many victims and they are all innocent. I was reading the words of bishops in Zimbabwe who said they are groaning in agony.

"It seems to me those words were not only speaking of people in Zimbabwe that have suffered such terrible acts but countless other victims all over the world who are groaning in agony."

The Archbishop also said he thought particularly of children.

"I cannot bear sometimes to look at their faces as they look out on the television. The agony in their eyes," he said.