Pope Francis meets separately with Israeli and Palestinian delegations and begged for peace and an end to what he called terrorism and “passions that are killing everyone.”
In encounters arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal was announced, Francis meets with relatives of hostages held in Gaza following Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault in southern Israel. He also meets separately with a delegation of Palestinians with relatives who are prisoners in Israel.
Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis says he heard from both how much they are suffering and the toll that the war was taking. In the audience were people holding Palestinian flags and scarves as well as small posters showing apparent bodies in a ditch and the word “Genocide” written underneath.
Francis said: “Here we’ve gone beyond war. This isn’t war, this is terrorism. Please, let us go forward for peace. Pray for peace, pray a lot for peace.”
He also asked for God to help both Israeli and Palestinian people “resolve problems and not go forward with passions that are killing everyone in the end.”
Francis has spoken out repeatedly for an end to the war.
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