BBC Radio 4 2015-11-14

Last night's events in the French Capital have deeply shocked us all.

So many innocent people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds were going about their business enjoying a typical Friday night in Paris unaware of the shocking terror and suffering which was about to befall them. It's impossible to absorb: to take in as we hear of more details in this programme this morning.

And it's not only the victims and their families who have been affected by what has happened. Every one of us who cares about human freedom and dignity is caught up in the calamity and catastrophe of what has taken place in heart of the French capital, a city which I love.

What next, where next, how to call a halt to such pointless violence and outrageous loss of civilian life- the questions continue to throw themselves up at us and weigh heavy on our hearts.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, used two words to help focus prayers for the people of Paris in a statement issued by Lambeth Palace late last night.

First, he petitioned for deliverance.

To be delivered from evil echoes the very prayer of Jesus himself. And in an increasingly hostile and evil world order such a prayer has never seemed more necessary or more apt. And this deliverance is obviously not just only for ourselves. But for the world in which we live and for all our fellow citizens.

The Archbishop also spoke of justice. That those responsible for such heinous acts of evil will be called to account and brought to justice. The security forces have begun looking for the accomplices. And all this, linking the rule of law not only in Paris, but in Syria and Lebanon, the West Bank and Egypt after the headlines of recent days.

It's hard, in my own lifetime, to recall a period more fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. This cannot surely be the world God intended. Anxiety levels are high and after the events of last night they are now higher still.

When Pope John Paul II went to Paris for the first time on 30 May 1980 he read a Prayer for the City at the foot of the Statue of the Notre Dame de Paris. He prayed for the heart of the City of Paris, for its purity of faith and its sense of hope. That full of grace, the people of this great city may be one in love.

As the candles burn in Paris' most famous Shrine on the banks of the River Seine this morning may that sense of hope and love never be extinguished.