“I renew my call for a ceasefire and for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, where there is a very serious, ignoble humanitarian situation,” the pope said in an address read out by an aide.
“And I call for the Palestinian population to receive all the necessary aid.
“My hope is that Israelis and Palestinians can rebuild the bridges of dialogue and mutual trust, starting with the youngest, so that the coming generations may live side by side in the two States, in peace and security, and so that Jerusalem may be the ‘city of encounter’ where Christians, Jews and Muslims live together in harmony and respect.”
He said that the job of “diplomacy is to foster dialogue with all, faced with the ever more concrete threat of a world war”.
The Argentine pontiff said this dialogue should include “interlocutors considered most inconvenient”.
“This is the only way to break the chains of hatred and revenge that imprison and to defuse the devices of human selfishness and pride, which are the root of every belligerent will,” he continued.
ANSA
