Pope Francis on Sunday voiced concerns about the “worrisome” rise of Jew-hatred while in the same breath condemning as “dramatic and deplorable” the situation in the Gaza Strip during his annual Easter address.
“The growing climate of antisemitism throughout the world is worrisome,” stated Francis in his address, which was read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli due to the pontiff’s ongoing medical crisis.
“Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” he continued.
“I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” he said. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”
Francis, 88, was released from Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital on March 23 after fighting off a case of pneumonia that had threatened his life. On two occasions, it was unclear whether he would survive.
During his hospitalization, Francis reportedly made a phone call to Father Gabriel Romanelli, the priest of Gaza’s Holy Family parish.
The pope has repeatedly denounced what he called the “cruelty” of Israeli airstrikes against Hamas in the Strip, which prompted criticism from Israeli officials who said he ignored the cruelty of the Palestinian terrorist group and applied a double standard that singled out Jews.
Francis used his Christmas Eve mass to urge Christians to think “of the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals,” calling the humanitarian situation “extremely grave.”
Earlier in December, a nativity scene displayed in Vatican City featured the infant Jesus clad in a keffiyeh. The revisionist display was removed following backlash led by both Christian and Jewish organizations.
“In his continued attitude toward Israel, the Pope is undermining 80 years of rebuilding relations between Roman Catholics and Jews since the Holocaust, when the Vatican protected Nazis,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel wrote on X on Dec. 21.
“He is destroying the reconciliation that Pope John Paul ll was so passionate about with the Jews. This is a just war as Israel still has 100 hostages left in Gaza,” added Haskel.
