With the persistent conflicts and crisis between Isreal and the Hamas militia, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, through an interview last weekend, has expressed the Holy See’s willingness to help mediate a peace agreement between the two warring parties.
Cardinal Parolin who disclosed that the Vatican’s major concern amid the conflict is the release of Israeli hostages and the protection of innocent lives in Gaza, emphasized that the Vatican is ready for any necessary mediation, as always, at this crucial time.
“I do not know how much room for dialogue there can be between Israel and the Hamas militia, but if there is, and we hope there is, it should be pursued immediately and without delay,” the Cardinal said.
Furthermore, the head of the Latin Catholics living in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, and Cyprus, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land. He urged Catholics to organize times of prayer with Eucharistic adoration and recitation of the rosary “to deliver to God the Father our thirst for peace, justice, and reconciliation.”
“In this time of sorrow and dismay, we do not want to remain helpless. We cannot let death and its sting (1 Cor 15:55) be the only word we hear.
“That is why we feel the need to pray, to turn our hearts to God the Father. Only in this way we can draw the strength and serenity needed to endure these hard times, by turning to him, in prayer and intercession, to implore and cry out to God amidst this anguish,” he said.
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