VATICAN (CNS): “I am close to all the populations involved, in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon, where I ask the United Nations peacekeeping forces to be respected.” Pope Francis said afer his Angelus on October 13 as he again called for “an immediate ceasefire on all fronts” in the Middle East, urging leaders to “pursue the paths of diplomacy and dialogue to achieve peace.”
While Pope Francis prayed for “all the victims [and] for the displaced” throughout the region, he also repeated his call for Hamas to release the hostages they took a year ago.
“I hope that this great pointless suffering, engendered by hatred and revenge, will end soon,” the pope said.
“Brothers and sisters, war is an illusion, it is a defeat: it will never lead to peace, it will never lead to security, it is a defeat for all, especially for those who believe they are invincible,” he said. “Stop, please!”
Two days after meeting Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the pope also appealed for peace and humanitarian assistance for the victims of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“I appeal for the Ukrainians not to be left to freeze to death,” he said, referring to the approach of winter and Russia’s destruction of power plants and gas supply lines. “Stop the airstrikes against the civilian population, which is always the most affected. Stop the killing of innocent people!”
The pope also said that he is following the “dramatic situation in Haiti” where extreme gang violence “continues against the population, forced to flee from their own homes in search of safety elsewhere, inside and outside the country.”
He urged everyone “ to pray for an end to all forms of violence” in Haiti, and encouraged the international community “to continue working to build peace and reconciliation in the country, always defending the dignity and rights of all.”
