Pope Francis appealed again today for the resumption of talks to end the war in Gaza and expressed his hope that “the conflict, already terribly bloody and violent, will not spread even further.”
He did so when he addressed thousands of pilgrims and tourists from many countries gathered in St. Peter’s Square to join him in prayer for the midday Angelus on Sunday, Aug. 4.
The pope’s appeal came after the assassinations of Ismael Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader who was involved in ceasefire negations, in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut earlier in the week. Most observers attribute both killings to Israel, though it has only publicly admitted the Beirut one. In addition, Israel also claimed it had killed Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief whom it says was the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack, in mid-July, which Hamas has not confirmed. In response to the assassinations, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have threatened “severe” retaliation against Israel, prompting many governments to urge their citizens to leave Lebanon.
The assassinations in Tehran and Beirut followed the killing of 12 children and young people of a Druze community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel attributed to a rocket from Hezbollah.
Francis denounced “attacks, even targeted ones, and killings” saying they “can never be a solution. They do not help [us] to walk in the path of justice, the path of peace, but generate even more hatred and revenge.” He appealed to all sides in the spreading war, “Enough, brothers and sisters! Enough! Do not stifle the word of the God of Peace, but let it be the future of the Holy Land, the Middle East and the entire world! War is a defeat!”
He appealed to all sides to resume talks for a ceasefire in Gaza: “Let us have the courage to resume dialogue so that there is an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and on all fronts, the hostages are freed, and the people are helped with humanitarian aid.”
“I pray for all the victims, especially the innocent children, and express my sympathy to the Druze community in the Holy Land and the populations in Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon,” he said.
The war in Gaza started following the attack by Hamas and other armed groups on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,139 people, mostly Israelis, but also 71 foreign nationals, according to Israeli government figures. Some 240 were taken hostage to Gaza, and more than 100 are believed to be there still.
Israel has retaliated for the Oct. 7 attack with ongoing bombing of Gaza that has already killed at least 39,550 Palestinians, including 16,172 children, and injured 91,280 people, according to the Gaza Ministry for Health. It said 70 percent of the victims are children and women. The United Nations reports that 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza, and the World Health Organization reports that there are 1.8 million cases of infectious diseases in Gaza today.
Pope Francis began his midday address by speaking about Lebanon and recalled the beatification last Friday of the Maronite Patriarch, Istifan al-Duwayhi, who, he said, led that church “with wisdom” from 1670 to 1704 at a time of persecution. The pope said, “Even today, the Lebanese people suffer so much! In particular, I think of the families of the victims of the explosion at the Port of Beirut. I hope that justice and truth will soon be done.” He prayed that the new blessed may “sustain the faith and hope of the Church in Lebanon, and intercede for this beloved country.”
Since Oct. 7, Lebanon, too, has been in the crossfire, as Hezbollah continues to attack northern Israel in support of Hamas, and Israel responds by bombing Lebanon. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah has led to the killing of 466 people, almost all of them Lebanese, and the displacement of tens of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians on both sides of the border between the two countries. The threat of a wider war between the two sides increased dramatically following the recent assassinations.
Francis concluded his midday address by turning his attention to Venezuela, which he said is living in “a critical situation.” He appealed to all sides in the ongoing protests over a contested election “to seek the truth, to exercise restraint, to avoid any kind of violence, to settle disputes through dialogue, to have at heart the true good of the people and not partisan interests.”
He made his appeal following that country’s July 28 elections, in which the electoral body assigned victory to President Nicolas Maduro without making public the results of the voting. The United States said it was clear Mr. Maduro had lost the popular vote.
President Maduro, who has ruled the country in an authoritarian way for more than a decade, a period in which 7 million have left the country, continued on the same path this week by responding to opposition protests with brutal repression that has already led to the deaths of 16 people and the arrests of thousands of Venezuelans.
Pope Francis entrusted this nation to the protection of Our Lady of Coromoto, who is greatly revered in Venezuela.
Editors' note: for more on Gerard O'Connell's work as America's Vatican correspondent, see this interview.
