Runcie Prays for Political Prisoners, Negotiator Waite
Robert A. K. Runcie, archbishop of Canterbury, offered an Easter prayer for prisoners of conscience and thanked people for praying for hostage negotiator Terry Waite.
In his Easter sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Runcie praised Waite, his special envoy, who vanished Jan. 20 in Beirut while trying to negotiate the release of Western hostages in Lebanon.
“He took risks to keep open doors of communication, to break down walls of misunderstanding, to seek the release of prisoners. They were religious and humane imperatives,” Runcie said.
“We have seen the vigor of these imperatives again this week in South Africa,” he added. He was apparently referring to defiance by some South African church leaders of a government ban on campaigns against detention without trial.
“May the light of the Easter hope shine on all prisoners of conscience and on those locked in any human conflict,” Runcie said.
The archbishop is spiritual leader of the world’s 70 million Anglicans.
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