Pope Francis asked this Sunday (9/4) that Israelis and Palestinians seek dialogue amid rising tensions between the two countries and again called for the Ukrainian War to come to an end.
“May God help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace and spread the light of Easter on the people of Russia,” the pope said to around 100,000 people during the Easter Mass, celebrated in St. Peter’s Square.
This Sunday, the pope also asked that God comfort those who lost loved ones in the war and wished that prisoners could return to their homes. “May God open the hearts of the entire international community to fight for an end to this war and all conflict and bloodshed in our world.”
The pontiff also asked for peace in the Middle East, a region that is witnessing an escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine. “I express deep concern at the attacks of recent days that threaten the expected climate of trust and mutual respect to resume dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace reigns in the Holy City and throughout the region,” said the pope, who still recovers after being hospitalized due to a respiratory infection.
Conflicts between Israel and Palestine
Conflicts between Israel and Palestine intensified on Wednesday (5), when Israeli police invaded the Al-Aqsa mosque, in Jerusalem, and clashed with hundreds of Palestinians who were spending the night there – 12 people were injured.
On Thursday (6/4), 34 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel – the Israeli air defense system managed to intercept 25, and no one was injured.
On Friday (7/4), an Italian tourist was killed and seven were injured in Tel Aviv when an attacker drove up with his car and also shot at the victims. The attack came hours after a gun attack killed two British-Israeli sisters near a West Bank settlement.
In his Vatican message, Francis also expressed hope that the Rohingya people, Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority, would find justice.
Nicaragua
Furthermore, he asked that God remember those who are prevented from professing their faith, referring to Nicaragua, whose regime has restricted Holy Week processions.
The relationship between the Vatican and the Central American country is in crisis. In addition to the regime’s episodes of persecution of Catholic bishops, the pope said that dictator Daniel Ortega suffers from an “imbalance” and compared his regime to the communist dictatorship in the Soviet Union and the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. In response, Ortega had the Vatican embassy in Nicaragua closed, but earlier he had also referred to the top echelon of the Catholic Church as a “perfect dictatorship”.