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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday reaffirmed Christians’ particular relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism for the reason that outbreak of the Gaza conflict in a letter to the Jews of Israel that he mentioned was prompted by messages from Jewish organizations world wide.
The letter served as a belated fence-mending after Francis was criticized for his preliminary response to the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults on Israel. Francis mentioned the Holy Land has been “forged right into a spiral of unprecedented violence,” a part of what the pope known as “a type of ‘piecemeal world conflict,’ with critical penalties on the lives of many populations.’’
“My coronary heart is torn on the sight of what’s taking place within the Holy Land, by the facility of a lot division and a lot hatred,’’ the pontiff wrote. “The entire world appears on at what is occurring in that land with apprehension and ache.”
In November, the pope set off a firestorm through the use of the phrase “terrorism” throughout separate, closed conferences with kin of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians residing by way of the conflict.
With out elaborating, Francis mentioned within the letter to Israeli Jews that he was moved by communication from pals and Jewish organizations world wide to “guarantee you of my closeness and affection. I embrace every of you and particularly those that are consumed by anguish, ache, concern and even anger.”
He mentioned that Catholics “are very involved concerning the horrible improve in assaults in opposition to Jews world wide we had hoped that ‘by no means once more’ could be a chorus heard by the brand new generations, but now we see that the trail forward requires ever nearer collaboration to eradicate these phenomena.’’
“My coronary heart is near you, to the Holy Land, to all of the peoples who inhabit it, Israelis and Palestinians, and I pray that the will for peace might prevail in all,’’ he mentioned.
The reconciliation between Jews and Catholics supplies “a horizon” to think about a future “the place mild replaces darkness, during which friendship replaces hatred, during which cooperation replaces conflict.”
“Collectively, Jews and Catholics, we should commit ourselves to this path of friendship, solidarity and cooperation in looking for methods to restore a destroyed world, working collectively in each a part of the world, and particularly within the Holy Land, to get better the flexibility to see within the face of each particular person the picture of God, during which we had been created,’’ Francis wrote.
The Related Press
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