The Daily Star: Pope to send a delegation to Damascus: Vatican

Pope Benedict XVI will send a delegation to Damascus to express his solidarity with the Syrian people, the Vatican said on Tuesday, as violence escalated with deadly air attacks unleashed by the regime on rebel positions.

"We cannot be mere spectators to the tragedy taking place in Syria," the Holy See's number two official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said during a global synod of Catholic bishops at the Vatican.

In remarks broadcast by Vatican Radio, Bertone said the delegation would likely travel to Damascus next week.

It will include Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York; Cardinal Laurent Mosengwo Pasinya, the archbishop of the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa; and the Vatican's top officials for foreign affairs and inter-religious dialogue.

Top Church officials from countries that have undergone conflicts of their own, such as Colombia and Vietnam, will also take part.

Bertone said the delegation would convey the pope's "brotherly solidarity with the entire population", adding that the synod supported the decision.