On the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with all those suffering because of conflicts throughout the Middle East. Source: CNS.
He urged Christians to be peacemakers and warned warmongers they will face God’s judgment.
“Blood is still being shed, as are tears,” the Pope said in a letter to all Catholics in the Middle East. “Anger is growing, along with the desire for revenge, while it seems that few people care about what is most needed and what is most desired: dialogue and peace.”
The letter was published yesterday, a day the Pope asked Catholics worldwide to dedicate to prayer, fasting and being at the service of humanity.
One year ago, militants led by the Islamist group, Hamas, launched a series of armed raids and rocket attacks against Israel, killing some 1200 people and taking more than 250 others hostage into Gaza – a territory the group has controlled for decades.
Israel declared war to eliminate the group and, since then, at least 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza.
Israel then invaded southern Lebanon on October 1 in an escalated military campaign to eliminate Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon and Shiite Muslim political party, and Iran, in turn, fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles onto Israeli territory.
In his letter, the Pope told Catholics in the region, “I want to reach out to you on this sad day. A year ago, the fuse of hatred was lit; it did not sputter, but exploded in a spiral of violence, in the shameful inability of the international community and the most powerful countries to silence the weapons and put an end to the tragedy of war.”
He encouraged all Christians living there not to be “engulfed by the darkness that surrounds you.” He thanked them for wanting to remain and “for being able to pray and love despite everything.”
“As Christians, we must never tire of imploring peace from God,” he wrote, which is why “I have urged everyone to observe a day of prayer and fasting,” which are “weapons of love” that change history and defeat “the spirit of evil that foments war.”
FULL STORY
Powerful impose war on others, world shows indifference, Pope says (By Carol Glatz, CNS)
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