Roman Catholic Pope Francis drew the ire of the Israeli government on the eve of Christmas week by calling the bombing and killing of children “cruelty.”
On Saturday Francis responded to an Israeli airstrike that killed 25 Palestinians in Jabalia, including 12 members of one family, seven of them children. The airstrikes, particularly on Gaza’s remaining hospitals and tent encampments housing displaced people, have been a daily occurrence.
“Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” the pope told members of the government of the Holy See.
After his Saturday comments, Israel’s foreign ministry shot back calling the Pope’s remarks “particularly disappointing as they are disconnected from the true and factual context of Israel’s fight against jihadist terrorism — a multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7.”
So the pope doubled down, remarking Sunday:
“And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer. He also called for a “ceasefire on all fronts, in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, throughout the Middle East and throughout the world.” ….more