VATICAN (CNS): Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister, spoke with Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, on October 30 at the Iranian leader’s request, said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.
The call took place the day after Pope Francis called for a cease-fire in the Holy Land after reciting the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square. The pope again called for the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza and the opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver aid to the region, which has been under siege since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing military and civilians and taking hostages, mostly the elderly, women and children.
“Let no one abandon the possibility that the weapons might be silenced—let there be a ceasefire,” Pope Francis said on October 29.
Bruni said that during his October 30 conversation with Amirabdollahian, Archbishop Gallagher “expressed the Holy See’s serious concern about what is happening in Israel and Palestine, reiterating the absolute need to avoid escalating the conflict.”
The archbishop also repeated the Holy See’s view that the international community must get serious about supporting the “two-state solution”—Israel and an independent Palestine within recognised borders—”for a stable and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Iran is considered a supporter of Hamas, and Amirabdollahian, in mid-October, had called on Israel to stop its military action in Gaza or face the possibility of a “huge earthquake” of fighting throughout the region.
