Pope Benedict yesterday received the first Mennonite World Conference delegation ever to come to Rome, following the Anabaptists' split from the Catholic Church in the 16th century. He especially commended their their long standing witness to peace.

German Catholics and Mennonites gathered in September for a conference on the “Healing of memories”. Representative of the two Christian traditions are meeting again in Rome right now, and the agenda is once again peace and reconciliation.

They are people seldom spoken of - the rural poor, landless and tribal people of India - at time when their country is being hailed as a new economic superpower. But last week they demanded to be heard, at the start of one of the biggest non-violent protests since Gandhi chased out the British.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has said that those close to the Bush administration in the USA who want military action against Syria and Iran are guilty of “criminal, ignorant and potentially murderous folly”. He urged peaceful stabilisation in Iraq.

The internet has played a major role in galvanising solidarity on behalf of the repressed democracy movement in Burma. Now bloggers in the UK and elsewhere are joining in on the action.

Burma's military junta appears to have cut public internet access to prevent the broadcast of videos, photographs and information about the violent attacks on protesters against the junta's rule - report global news agencies.

The key role of a long spiritual heritage of disciplined and creative non-violence should not be ignored as a factor in current attempts to overthrow brutal dictatorship in Burma, says Gene Stoltzfus, a founder of Christian Peacemaker Teams.

The Church of Scotland’s church and society convenor, Morag Mylne, has called for democracy and a “peaceful and speedy resolution” to the civil unrest in Burma after the country’s military rulers began to use force to break up demonstrations yesterday.