Pope Francis thanked God “because there is finally a truce between Israel and Palestine and some hostages have been freed,” and prayed that all of them would be freed and that humanitarian aid would enter the Gaza Strip. Loop.
The Holy Father expressed his gratitude from Casa Santa Marta, where he led the recitation of the Marian prayer. The thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square heard the Pontiff’s words through the screens installed outside the Vatican basilica.
“Let us pray that they are all released as soon as possible – let us think of their families! – that there is more humanitarian aid in Gaza and that we insist on dialogue: it is the only way, the only way to have peace. “Those who do not want dialogue do not want peace,” said Pope Francis.
The four-day ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Friday, during which the organization would hand over 50 hostages of the nearly 240 it took on October 7. For their part, 150 Palestinians locked up in Israeli prisons will be released.
Thus, 41 Israeli and foreign hostages who were held in Gaza have already been released, while Israel freed 78 Palestinian prisoners.
Not all of the hostages are in the hands of Hamas, as some of them are in the hands of other terrorist organizations such as Islamic Jihad. Likewise, during the Israeli incursion into the Strip, the lifeless bodies of two kidnapped women were found.
In his words after the Angelus, Pope Francis also referred to the “martyred Ukraine,” where the Holodomor was “commemorated, the genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime 90 years ago that caused millions of people to die of hunger.”
“That lacerating wound, instead of healing, is made even more painful by the atrocities of the war that continues to make that beloved people suffer,” he said.
For this reason, he urged the faithful to continue praying without tiring “for all the peoples torn by conflicts.” “Prayer is the force of peace that breaks the spiral of hatred, breaks the cycle of revenge and opens unexpected paths of reconciliation,” he said.