Pope calls for Israeli-Palestinian talks in Easter message

Pope Francis uses his traditional Easter address to call for renewed peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and for an end to the violence threatening to subsume the region.

Francis urges the “resumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region,” a reference to Jerusalem.

He also urges the international community to work to end the war in Ukraine and “all conflict and bloodshed in the world, beginning with Syria, which still awaits peace.” Francis also prays for those who lost loved ones in an earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two months ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

The pope’s Easter message is known by its Latin name, ”Urbi et Orbi,” which means “to the city and the world.” It traditionally addresses troubled places around the globe.

Still recovering from bronchitis, Francis, 86, skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Francis has generally rebounded following a three-day stay last week at a Rome hospital where he was administered antibiotics intravenously for bronchitis. He was discharged on April 1.

But near the end of the more than two-hour-long Easter Sunday appearance, Francis seemed to start running out of steam. His voice grew hoarse and he interrupted his speech at one point to cough.