2024-04-10 00:30:16
Pope Francis responded to Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s request for a meeting with representatives of the families of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Information about this was confirmed by the Vatican and the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
According to preliminary information, on April 8 the pontiff will hold a meeting with relatives of the abducted.
“The Pope’s support has great moral and practical weight. I am convinced that it will contribute to the return of those abducted home,” Katz said.
According to the Pope himself, the purpose of the meeting is to raise awareness of the problem of the release of the abducted and to ensure that “any ceasefire is conditional on the release of the abducted.”
Earlier, Cursor reported that in his Easter speech, Pope Francis reiterated his call for the release of hostages in Gaza and an immediate ceasefire.
“Let us not allow the current hostilities to continue to have a serious impact on the civilian population, which is already at the limit of its endurance, and above all on children. How much suffering we see in their eyes! With such eyes they ask us: “Why? Why so many deaths? Why all this destruction? War is always absurd and defeat!”, the Pope emphasized.
Note that Francis regularly calls for peace after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. While the pope affirms Israel’s right to self-defense, he and other senior Vatican diplomats also condemn the all-out blockade of Gaza.