Pope condemns Israeli airstrikes in Gaza: ‘This is cruelty. This is not war’

Comments come day after diaspora minister published open letter in Italian newspaper saying pontiff’s earlier remarks amounted to a ‘trivialization’ of the term ‘genocide’

Pope Francis exchanges the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, December 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis exchanges the season's greetings with Vatican employees, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, December 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza again on Saturday, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a “genocide” of the Palestinian people.

Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican’s various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that medics said killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the strikes but has long said it only targets terrorists and that Hamas hides among civilians.

“Yesterday, children were bombed,” said the pope. “This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart.”

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”

Troops of the Kfir Brigade operate in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, in a handout photo issued on December 20, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday.

Chikli said the pope’s remarks amounted to a “trivialization” of the term genocide.

Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli speaks in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 25, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.

The patriarch’s office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope’s remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.

Israeli officials were not immediately reachable for comment on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The pontiff’s comments were the latest barb in an increasingly fractious relationship between Jerusalem and the Holy See.

Earlier this month, a seasonal nativity scene at the Vatican was removed after backlash over its depiction of the baby Jesus lying on a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf used by Palestinians as a national symbol.

The nativity scene drew criticism as it was suggestive of the trope that Jesus was a Palestinian rather than Jewish.

Pope Francis prays before the ‘Nativity of Bethlehem 2024,’ upon its inauguration in the Paul VI Hall, during the private audience with donors of the nativity scene and the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony at St Peter’s Square, in the Paul-VI hall at the Vatican on December 7, 2024. (Andreas Solaro/ AFP)

The pope has met frequently with family members of those taken hostage and has repeatedly called for their release.

However, a letter he wrote to Middle Eastern Catholics on the first anniversary of the attack never mentioned Hamas by name or made explicit reference to its atrocities, including the hostages. The letter also quoted passages from the Gospel of John that have historically been used to fuel religious antisemitism.

The war began when Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

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