Vatican's Aid Sought for Iranian Sentenced to Stoning

Jesus Compassion to sinners, even an adulterer woman
Story taken from the Holy Gospel according to John 8:1-12

Mary Magdelene who was forgiven by Jesus; a very touching scene in the movie "The Passion of the Christ"

While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.

Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.

They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.

But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him.

Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more."

This is the JESUS we believe in the BIBLE!

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 5, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The director of the Vatican press office indicated today that the Holy See would like to help stop the death by stoning of Sakineh Mohammdi Ashtiani.

The Iranian woman is convicted of adultery and condemned to be stoned to death. Iran has said that her sentence is not because of adultery but complicity in her husband's death.

Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi told journalists that “the Holy See is following the situation with attention and participation.”

The woman's plight has brought international criticism due to efforts by her son, Sajad Ghaderzadeh, to save her by drawing attention to her case. Ghaderzadeh told an Italian news agency that he has appealed to the Vatican for mediation.

Father Lombardi noted the Church's general opposition to the death penalty, adding that "stoning is a particularly brutal form [of it]."

He said mediation from the Vatican would come through diplomacy, not a public protest: "When the Holy See is asked in an appropriate way to intervene with authorities in other countries in humanitarian questions -- as has occurred often in the past -- she does so not in a public way but through the proper diplomatic channels."

An offer from Brazil to give her asylum has already been turned down.

This is what would happen to her if the stoning would push through. Please pray for her and her two children who needed a mother.