Pope Francis today called for the cessation of military operations in Gaza, the release of the hostages and for the Palestinian question to be faced, in his Christmas message, which he read while leaning out from the balcony of the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica before the ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing.
In this message, in which Pope Francis lists the world’s conflicts, he asked that peace “come to Israel and Palestine, where war shakes the lives of those populations” and added: “I embrace both, in particular the communities Christians of Gaza, the parish of Gaza, and of the entire Holy Land”.
The pope assured that he carries “in his heart the pain for the victims of the execrable attack of last October 7” although he did not mention the Islamists of Hamas, and renewed his call “for the release of those who are still held hostage.”
And he continued: “I beg that military operations cease, with their dramatic consequences of innocent civilian victims, and that the desperate humanitarian situation be remedied by allowing the arrival of aid.”
On the other hand, he urged “that violence and hatred not continue to be fueled, but that a solution be found to the Palestinian question, through a sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, supported by strong political will and the support of the international community”.
This Sunday, the wife of the Israeli Prime Minister, Sara Netanyahu, sent an open letter to Pope Francis requesting his “personal intervention” and “his influence” for the release of 129 hostages still being held, as she considered that the pontiff’s intervention could be decisive. to save their lives.
On November 22, Francis received a group of relatives of some hostages held by Hamas and has asked for a new truce so that they can all be released, as well as meeting with people close to Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
During the message, he also asked for the end of the war in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen or for an end to tensions between the two Koreas and in Sudan, South Sudan, Cameroon or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
And he called for the production of weapons to stop and criticized the allocation of enormous amounts of public funds to weapons.
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“But to say no to war it is necessary to say no to weapons. Because if the man, whose heart is unstable and wounded, finds instruments of death in his hands, sooner or later he will use them. And how can we talk about peace if the production, sale and trade of arms increase?” Francisco observed.