Pope Francis appealed for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza after the killing of seven aid workers and the bombing of the Iranian consulate, warning against the war’s escalation.

"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."

While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.

“Easter, the heart of our faith, is all the more significant for you who celebrate this feast in the very places where our Lord lived, died and rose again,” Pope Francis writes to Catholics of all rites living in the Holy Land.

Does the Holy See think Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza? Did Pope Francis call on Ukraine to surrender? Gerard O’Connell asks these questions and more in an exclusive interview with Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

“As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land,” the bishops wrote.