Salvadorans Urged To Forgive, Rebuild

Pope John Paul II urged Salvadorans on Thursday to drop their hatreds and desire for revenge and rebuild their war-ravaged country on the principle of Christian forgiveness.

Coming to El Salvador for the first time since civil war ended four years ago there, the pope said the end of the superpower rivalry has given the poor Central American nation a golden opportunity for peace.

“It is as if God has given you the roads to choose for the future of your country - the road of death or the road of life,” the pontiff said at an open-air Mass on a dusty field in the capital, San Salvador.