During his weekly audience at the Vatican, Benedict said he was “profoundly saddened” by news of the violence against Christian communities in eastern India.“I firmly condemn any attack on human life,” Benedict told a crowd of faithful and pilgrims. “I express spiritual closeness and solidarity to the brothers and sisters in faith who are being so harshly tested.”

The pope also called “deplorable” the killing of a Hindu leader. Hardline Hindus have blamed that death on Christian militants, setting off the latest violence in India’s Orissa state.

Benedict urged religious leaders and local authorities to “work together to re-establish between the members of the various communities the peaceful coexistence and the harmony that have always marked Indian society.”

The violence began as Hindu hard liners set ablaze a Christian orphanage early Monday, killing a woman who worked as a lay teacher and seriously injuring a priest. Four people were killed later that day, including two burned alive when rioters set fire to thatched huts.

Six more people were killed Tuesday and Wednesday in villages across the state, despite a curfew imposed by police, authorities said. One was doused with kerosene and burned to death by a mob, another died when protesters set fire to a house, while four were killed in an exchange of gunfire between the rival groups.

It is not clear if the latest dead were Christians or Hindus. Security forces on Wednesday were ordered to shoot on sight protesters defying the curfew.

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