Pope urges Gaza truce in Easter message
VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis made renewed calls on Easter Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages in a peace-focused address marking the most important day on the Christian calendar.
Francis presided over Mass in a packed St Peter’s Square, and then delivered his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
On Saturday, the Pontiff soldiered through a more than two-hour Easter Vigil Mass, one of the longest services in Catholic liturgy, amid renewed concerns about his frail condition.
His voice at times sounded raspy and out of breath, but he read out all of his prepared texts, including a more than one-page long homily, and he smiled and waved at the congregation as he left in a wheelchair.
In other occasions, Francis delegated longer readings to aides.
Francis, 87, has been in poor health in recent weeks, forcing him on repeated occasions to limit his public speaking and cancel engagements as he did on Good Friday, skipping at short notice the Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum.
However, he took part normally in other Holy Week events leading up to Easter, and appeared in relatively good spirits at Sunday’s Mass. Easter celebrates the day in which the faithful believe Jesus rose from the dead.
Appeal for aid
After the service, the Pontiff took to his open-topped popemobile to tour the square and the avenue connecting the Vatican to the River Tiber and greet the tens of thousands of people who had lined up to see him.
Francis has repeatedly deplored the death and destruction in the Gaza war.
“I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized last Oct. 7 and for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip,” he said on Sunday.
“How much suffering we see in the eyes of children, the children have forgotten to smile in those war zones. With their eyes, children ask us: Why? Why all this death? Why all this destruction? War is always an absurdity and a defeat,” he added.
Man-made crisis
The Pope spoke a day after an aid delivery in Gaza descended into chaos with shots fired and a Red Crescent paramedic reporting five dead, as almost six months of Israeli bombardment has left hundreds of thousands in desperate need.
Israel’s siege, sparked by a deadly militant attack on Oct. 7, brings nightly air strikes and in recent days major operations around several hospitals, which it says are used by Palestinian militant groups—claims denied by Hamas.
The World Health Organization warned that Gaza had just 10 “minimally functioning” hospitals for its more than two million people, with its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying around 9,000 patients urgently needed treatment abroad.
UN agencies have warned repeatedly that northern Gaza is on the verge of famine and called it a man-made crisis because aid lorries are backed up on the Egypt-Gaza border awaiting long checks by Israeli officials. Israel has denied responsibility.
Two charities have organized aid deliveries by sea from Cyprus, with their second mission in just over two weeks setting sail on Saturday.
Organizers said the flotilla, which had been repeatedly delayed by bad weather, was carrying around 400 tons of supplies, a fraction of Gaza’s needs. —reports from REUTERS, AFP
