Pope meets with relatives of captives, urges for peace in Israel and Palestine

Pope Francis has called for a gathering in St. Peter’s Square to pray for peace between the warring nations, acknowledging the suffering of both Israeli prisoners in Gaza and Palestinian captives in Israel.
“One of Israelis who have relatives as hostages in Gaza, and another of Palestinians who have relatives held prisoner in Israel,” the 86-year-old pope declared at the end of his weekly audience at the Vatican.

“I heard how they both suffer, and they suffer a lot,” he remarked.

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Wars accomplish this, but in this case, they are not enough. He declared, “This is not war, this is terrorism,” although he did not clarify if he was alluding to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 attack on the country, or both.

The pope’s most recent comments contained the following quote: “Every human being, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, of any people or religion, every human being is sacred, is precious in the eyes of God and has the right to live in peace.”

Israel and Hamas struck a compromise on Wednesday that would free at least 50 hostages and dozens of Palestinian prisoners after weeks of all-out combat. The agreement would also provide the embattled Gaza population a four-day break.