ROME — Pope Francis has written to his “Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” exhorting them to break the “incessant cycles” of war and hatred in the Holy Land.
Since October 7 the Holy Land “has been cast into a spiral of unprecedented violence,” the pontiff writes. “My heart is torn at the sight of what is happening in the Holy Land, by the power of so much division and so much hatred.”
In his letter, the pope laments the manifestations of “anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism” that have emerged during the conflict, underscoring the “particular and singular” relationship binding Jews to Catholics.
“The path that the Church has walked with you, the ancient people of the covenant, rejects every form of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, unequivocally condemning manifestations of hatred towards Jews and Judaism as a sin against God,” he states.
We Catholics are likewise “very concerned about the terrible increase in attacks against Jews around the world,” he adds, having “hoped that ‘never again’ would be a refrain heard by the new generations.”
Turning to the conflict, Francis declares that his heart is close to “all the peoples” who inhabit the Holy Land, Israelis and Palestinians, and “I pray that the desire for peace may prevail in all.”
I feel the desire “to assure you of my closeness and affection,” he writes. “I embrace each of you, and especially those who are consumed by anguish, pain, fear and even anger.”
“Together with you, we mourn the dead, the wounded, the traumatized, begging God the Father to intervene and put an end to war and hatred, to these incessant cycles that endanger the entire world,” he states.
In a special way “we pray for the return of the hostages, rejoicing because of those who have already returned home, and praying that all the others will soon join them,” he adds.
At the same time, the pope urges Israelis to “never lose hope for a possible peace” and to “do everything possible to promote it, rejecting every form of defeatism and mistrust.”
“We have heard a summons, and we must respond. It is the summons to break the spiral of hatred and violence, and to break it by one word alone: the word ‘brother,’” he declares.
File/Pope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi Message to World from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, on December 25, 2023 in Vatican City, Vatican. Looking at parts of the world where peace is distant, the Pope prayed for an end to the war devastating the lives of people in Israel and Palestine. He offered his consolation to the people of Gaza and the entire region and in particular the Christian communities. ( Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
As Jews and Catholics, we are witnesses to “a future horizon where light replaces darkness, in which friendship replaces hatred, in which cooperation replaces war,” he maintains.
“And we must act, starting first and foremost from the Holy Land, where together we want to work for peace and justice, doing everything possible to create relationships capable of opening new horizons of light for everyone, Israelis and Palestinians.”
Jews and Catholics together must commit themselves to a “path of friendship, solidarity and cooperation in seeking ways to repair a destroyed world,” he writes, “working together in every part of the world, and especially in the Holy Land, to recover the ability to see in the face of every person the image of God, in which we were created.”
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