Pope Francis has acknowledged the suffering of both Palestinian captives in Israel and Israeli hostages in Gaza, urging a gathering at St Peter’s Square to pray for peace among the warring countries.
The eighty-six-year-old pope announced at the conclusion of his weekly audience at the Vatican that he had received two delegations: “one of Israelis who have relatives as hostages in Gaza, and another of Palestinians who have relatives held prisoner in Israel.”
He said, “They suffer a lot and I heard how they both suffer.”
“Wars do this, but here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war, this is terrorism,” he said, without specifying whether he was referring to the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israel’s military operation in Gaza launched in response, or both.”
The assertion, “Every human being, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, of any people or religion, every human being is sacred, is precious in the eyes of God and has the right to live in peace,” was quoted from the pope’s most recent remarks.
Following weeks of all-out fighting, Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday that would liberate dozens of Palestinian inmates and at least 50 hostages while also providing a four-day reprieve to the beleaguered people of Gaza.
Pope receives relatives of captives, calls for peace in Israel, Palestine