This Sunday’s angel in St. Peter’s Square did not please Israel at all, which has made it known through official channels. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, has called Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See, to rebuke Francis’ words in his message of on Sunday, demanding that the Pontiff “clearly and unequivocally” condemn the attacks by Hamas.
Poured out onto the balcony in Saint Peter’s Square, the Pope expressed his pain for what is happening in Israel and Palestine, renewed “the call for the release of the hostages” and asked “strongly” that “the children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians are not victims of the conflict”. The Pontiff also implored respect for humanitarian law, “especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to guarantee humanitarian corridors and help the entire population”. “Brothers and sisters, many people have already died. Please, let no more innocent blood be shed”, he exclaimed.
For Israel, it is “unacceptable that concern is expressed primarily for the civilians of Gaza while Israel is burying the 1,300 who were killed,” Cohen told Gallagher, according to a ministry statement. For this reason, they want the Vatican to make “a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the murderous terrorist actions of Hamas terrorists who attacked women, children and the elderly simply because they are Jews and Israelis”. “There is no place for baseless comparisons,” insisted Cohen, who described Hamas as “a terrorist organization worse than the Islamic State, which invaded Israel with the intention of attacking innocent civilians, while Israel is a democracy which is trying to defend its citizens from Hamas”.
The times the Pope has referred to the conflict he has avoided using the word Hamas, but last Wednesday, during the general audience, he already asked for the hostages to be released and justified Israel’s response by saying that “those attacked they have the right to defend themselves”, although he expressed his concern about “the total siege that the Palestinians are living in Gaza, where there have also been many innocent victims”.
At the same time, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has offered to Hamas in exchange for the release of the children he is holding as hostages. As he told the press in Jerusalem, the cardinal “would do anything for these children to be freed”. “There is no problem, absolute will on my part”, he emphasized.