Pope hosts Israeli, Palestinian fathers who both lost daughters in conflict
Amid recent health concerns, pontiff praises Bassam Aramin, Rami Elhanan for the ‘friendship of two men who care about each other’ and seek peace instead of war
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis appeared in better health on Wednesday, walking into the Vatican audience hall on his own with a cane for his weekly general audience and delivering his prepared text with a clear voice — while hosting bereaved Israeli and Palestinian fathers and appealing for peace.
The encounter was Francis’s first public event since Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, when he decided at the last minute to skip his homily, avoiding the speech at the start of a busy Holy Week that will test his increasingly fragile health.
As Francis discussed the virtue of patience during his Wednesday audience, he renewed his appeal for peace and an immediate stop in ongoing conflicts.
The pope also noted that there were two people in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall — “two fathers” — and that one was Palestinian, the other Israeli.
He said that both of them had lost their daughters over the course of the Middle East conflict, “and they are both friends.”
“They do not look at the enmity of war,” Francis said. “They look to the friendship of two men who care about each other and have experienced the same crucifixion.”
The Vatican press office said Bassam Aramin’s daughter Abir was killed in 2007 by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli Border Police officer as she left school; Rami Elhanan’s daughter Smadar was killed in 1997 in a Palestinian suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem.
The two men’s story of friendship was told in the novel “Apeirogon” by Colum McCann, a winner of the Terzani Prize who met with Francis during an audience with artists on June 23, 2023.
“Let us think of the beautiful witness of these two people who have suffered the war in the Holy Land in the loss of their daughters,” the pope said.
Francis met with both men in private before the general audience and then warmly greeted the two men at the end.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the pope, Elhanan said Francis had been “deeply touched” by their story of campaigning for peace together.
He said the pontiff noted that he was Christian, Elhanan was Jewish and Aramin was Muslim, but emphasized “we are all humans. And we can be brothers instead of going and killing each other.”
AFP contributed to this report.
