The World - News from May 28, 1989

Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York arrived in Beirut on a three-day mission to draw attention to foreign hostages held in Lebanon and to the bitter fighting there. The 69-year-old archbishop is scheduled to meet with warring Christian and Muslim leaders on both sides of the divided capital. O’Connor is in Lebanon in his capacity as president of the Catholic Near East Assn., which provides millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the embattled country. He said he would gladly meet with any of the nine Americans and seven other Western hostages, and added, “I hope that they can hear my voice or can see me or can read that the people of our country have not forgotten them.”