The Pope delivered his traditional Christmas message this Monday, December 25. He denounced a “desperate humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
Pope Francis took advantage of his traditional Christmas message to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, and the situation in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. According to him, the “humanitarian situation is desperate” for the Palestinians there. He also called for the release of the hostages still being held, and for a ceasefire.
“I call for an end to military operations, with their appalling result of innocent civilian victims, and for the desperate humanitarian situation to be remedied by allowing humanitarian aid to arrive,” he said in his statement. “Urbi et Orbi” speech, which translates to “to the city of Rome and to the world.” A highly anticipated speech for faithful Christians around the world. More generally, Francis called for “resolving the Palestinian question, through a sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, supported by strong political will and the support of the international community.”
The day before, Saturday December 24, the Argentine pope also had a word for the city of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. A high place of Christianity, where Christ was born according to tradition, which decided to cancel the nativity celebrations due to the war and was deserted this year by pilgrims. “Our heart, this evening, is in Bethlehem, where the principle of peace is still rejected by the losing logic of war, with the clash of arms which, even today, prevents it from finding a place in the world “, declared the sovereign pontiff, echoing his thoughts for “Palestine, Israel and Ukraine” a little earlier in the day, during the weekly Angelus prayer.
