The pope denounced “the desperate humanitarian situation” in Gaza in his traditional Christmas message on Monday, calling for the release of hostages still held and an end to the war, “madness without excuses” in the Palestinian territory as elsewhere.
• Also read: Israel-Hamas war: “Our hearts are in Bethlehem tonight,” says the Pope
• Also read: Help for Gaza: “The real problem” is Israel’s offensive, accuses the UN chief
“I carry in my heart the pain of the victims of the heinous attack of October 7th and renew an urgent appeal for the release of those still held hostage,” said 87-year-old François in his traditional “Urbi et orbi”. (“to the city of Rome and to the world”).
“I call for an end to military operations with their horrific consequences for innocent civilian victims and for the desperate humanitarian situation to be resolved by the arrival of humanitarian aid,” he added to several thousand pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.
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Almost three months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian aid, whose entry into the Gaza Strip is controlled by Israel, is arriving in droves from Egypt and the Israeli border crossing at Kerem Shalom, well below the immense needs of the devastated Palestinian territory.
In his sermon on Sunday evening during Christmas mass in St. Peter's Basilica, he already lamented the “arms fight” in the Gaza Strip, which marred the celebrations in Bethlehem – where, according to tradition, Jesus was born – in the occupied West Bank.
In the long term, the sovereign Pope called for “the solution of the Palestinian question through a sincere and persistent dialogue between the parties, supported by a strong political will and the support of the international community.”
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As every year, the head of the 1.3 billion Catholics invoked the “Prince of Peace” – Jesus Christ – in this address to humanity, broadcast worldwide, to review the most important conflicts and sources of tension in both hemispheres.
He named Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, which he prayed for so that they “quickly regain political and social stability.”
He called for “Peace for Ukraine,” where millions of Orthodox people attended church services starting Sunday evening for the first time in their history and as a sign of defiance against Moscow to celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
Peace also between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been in a territorial conflict for decades, but also in “the Sahel zone, the Horn of Africa, Sudan as well as Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.”
Photo AFP
He said he hoped for “paths of dialogue and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula that could create the conditions for lasting peace.”
The Argentine pope had a final word for the Americas, calling on “political authorities and all people of good will” to “overcome social and political differences” to fight poverty and “counter the painful phenomenon of migration.”