By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Pope Francis received at the Vatican on Wednesday, separately and privately, a delegation of relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists, and another delegation of relatives of Palestinians who live in Gaza.
The delegations consisted of 12 Israelis and 10 Palestinians who met with the Holy Father. In the meetings, each lasting 20 minutes, some of those affected by the war ravaging the Holy Land had the opportunity to tell their stories to the pontiff and express to him their desire for peace.
After the meetings, Pope Francis participated in the general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. At the end of his catechism, he referred to these meetings and stated “this is no longer war, this is terrorism.”
He urged “persevering in prayer for all those who are suffering because of wars in so many parts of the world” especially for Ukraine and for Israel and Palestine.
The Holy Father stated that he “heard how both (sides) suffer: wars do this, but here we have gone beyond wars, this is not waging war, this is terrorism. Please, let us move forward for peace, let us pray for peace, let us pray a lot for peace.”
“May the Lord put his hand there, may the Lord help us solve the problems and not continue with the passions that in the end kill everyone. We pray for the Palestinian people, we pray for the Israeli people, so that peace may come,” he prayed.
The Vatican denies that the Pope spoke of “genocide”
After the audience, both delegations held different press conferences to speak to the media about their meeting with Pope Francis.
The members of the Palestine group talked about how the Israeli bombs had ended the lives of many of their relatives.
They noted that the pontiff had referred to what is happening in Gaza as a “genocide” and that he had pointed out that “terrorism cannot be responded to with terrorism.”
The director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, however, denied that the pontiff had spoken of “genocide,” and stated that he used “the terms with which he has expressed himself” during the general audience and words that in any case represent the terrible situation that Gaza is going through.”
Comments are closed.