ROME — Pope Francis has condemned what he described as the “massacre” of 153 women and children in Gaza, insisting the victims were “innocent.”
Following his Angelus prayer on the Feast of All Saints, the pontiff remembered “all the peoples who are suffering because of war,” adding that “war is always a defeat, always!”
War is “ignoble,” he continued, “because it is the triumph of the lie, of falsehood: one seeks the greatest interest for oneself and the greatest damage for the adversary, trampling on human lives, the environment, the infrastructure, everything; and all disguised with lies.”
While until that point, his words had been general, he became specific when recalling the conflict in Gaza.
“The innocent suffer!” he declared. “I think of the 153 women and children massacred in Gaza in recent days.”
On Sunday, Francis picked up on the same theme, citing article 11 of the Italian Constitution, which says: “Italy rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means for the settlement of international disputes.”
May this principle “be implemented all over the world: may war be banished and issues be addressed through law and negotiations,” he said. “Let weapons be silenced and space be made for dialogue.”
He then went on to pray by name “for tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, and South Sudan.”
Last month, the pope called out Israel for what he described as its “domineering tendency” in Lebanon and Gaza, insisting that its response to attacks has been “disproportionate.”
Asked by a journalist whether he thinks Israel “has perhaps gone too far” in the force used in the targeted assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah
Francis replied that he calls the Catholic parish in Gaza every day, and they “tell me the things that happen, including the cruelties that take place there.”
“The defense must always be proportionate to the attack,” he continued. “When there is something disproportionate, a dominating tendency that goes beyond morality is evident.”
“A country that uses force to do these things – I am talking about any country – to do these things in such a ‘superlative’ way, these are immoral actions,” he said.
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