(by Fausto Gasparroni) (ANSA) – VATICAN CITY, SEPTEMBER 15 – The Pope recalls at the Angelus the horrible story of the six Israeli hostages found dead by the army during the raid in a Hamas tunnel, near Rafah. And, in launching yet another appeal for an end to hostilities in Gaza, and not only there, he expresses his closeness to all the families of the hostages held by Hamas since October 7, whose release he asks for. “I am thinking of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, found dead at the beginning of September, together with five other hostages, in Gaza,” says Francis. “In November of last year, I met his mother, Rachel, who struck me with her humanity. I am accompanying her at this moment.” “I pray for the victims and I continue to be close to all the families of the hostages – he continues -. Let the conflict in Palestine and Israel end! Let the violence end, let the hatred end! Let the hostages be released, let the negotiations continue and let peaceful solutions be found”. The Pontiff invites us not to forget “the wars that bloody the world”. “I think of the tormented Ukraine, of Myanmar, I think of the Middle East. How many innocent victims! I think of the mothers who have lost children in war. How many young lives cut short!”, he exclaims again with pain. Last Friday, in the press conference on the plane returning from Singapore, regarding the conflict in Gaza the Pope said: “sometimes I think that one war is too much, too much. I apologize for saying this – he added -, but I do not think that steps are being taken to make peace”. And as an example of the now intolerable consequences of this war he cites the fate of the six hostages found killed, which has caused great emotion not only in Israel. “My son Hersh Goldberg-Polin is 23 years old, he loves music, he loves to travel the world. On October 7, he was at a festival in Israel, which he went to because it was sold to him as a moment of peace and connection. He has been away from us for 230 days,” his mother Rachel said from the stage of the US Democratic convention in Chicago, in August. But Hersh did not make it: he was killed along with the other five shortly before Israeli troops reached them. The news was released on September 1. Also at the Angelus, the Pope expressed his “closeness to the people of Vietnam and Myanmar, who are suffering because of the floods caused by a violent typhoon. I pray for the deceased, the injured and the displaced. May God support those who have lost their loved ones and their homes, and bless those who are bringing help.” And after having remembered the priest beatified yesterday in Mexico City, Moises Lira Serafin, he underlines that “today in Italy we celebrate the Day of those suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). I assure a remembrance in prayer for them and for their families; I encourage the research work on this pathology and the voluntary associations”. (ANSA).
2024-09-16 02:51:30