The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has condemned the violence currently shaking the Holy Land, a region that is going through “one of the most difficult and painful periods” in its recent history.
The cardinal published a letter this Tuesday to the faithful of the Holy Land just over two weeks after the attack by the terrorist group Hamas against southern Israel, which has resulted in a series of bombings by the Israeli army towards the Gaza Strip.
According to reports, the incursion of the Islamic group caused the death of at least 1,400 people and more than 220 have been reported kidnapped, who were taken to Gaza, a region controlled by Hamas since 2007 and where there are also other anti-Israeli groups such as Jihad. Islamic.
Likewise, Israeli air raids have left more than 5,000 dead in Gaza. According to the Ministry of Health, 40% are children and 22% are women or the elderly.
“My conscience and my moral duty compel me to clearly declare that what happened on October 7 in southern Israel is in no way admissible and we cannot fail to condemn it. There is no reason for such an atrocity. Yes, we have the duty to affirm and denounce it,” says Cardinal Pizzaballa.
“Recourse to violence,” he remembers, “is not compatible with the Gospel and does not lead to peace. The life of every human person has equal dignity before God, who has created us all in his image.”
However, he adds, “the same conscience, with a great weight in my heart, leads me today to affirm with the same clarity that this new cycle of violence has caused more than five thousand deaths in Gaza, among them many women and children, tens of thousands of people injured, neighborhoods devastated, lack of medicine, water and basic necessities for more than two million people. “They are tragedies that are not understood and that we have the duty to denounce and condemn without reservation.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem warns that the bombings will only continue to cause more death in Gaza “and will only increase hatred and resentment, they will not solve any problems but will create new ones. It is time to stop this war, this senseless violence.”
The cardinal indicates that it is necessary to resolve this conflict from its roots, which includes ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories – as is happening in the West Bank – and giving “a clear and secure national perspective to the Palestinian people”; Otherwise, “there will never be the stability we all want.”
“The tragedy of these days must lead us all, religious, politicians, civil society, the international community, to a more serious commitment in this regard than that which has been made until now. Only in this way can we avoid more tragedies like the one we are experiencing now. We owe it to the many, many victims of these days and all these years. We have no right to leave this task to others,” he expressed.