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Pope Francis Maintained Rocky Relationship With Israel, Condemned War in Gaza During Final Months

Pope Francis waves from a balcony, on the day he delivers his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and the world) message at St. Peter’s Square, on Easter Sunday, at the Vatican, March 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Pope Francis, who died on Monday at the age of 88 after leading the Catholic Church for 12 years, became an increasingly vocal critic of Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza in the months before his death.

The Vatican announced that Francis, who just one day earlier entered St. Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile for the first time since surviving double pneumonia, died after a cerebral stroke, which put him into a coma and led to irreversible heart failure.

During his pontificate, Francis strongly condemned antisemitism and promoted interfaith dialogue between Jewish and Catholic communities. However, he also drew the ire of pro-Israel supporters and Jewish leaders, including the chief rabbi of Rome, for his sharp words against the Jewish state.

In December, he unveiled a nativity scene which featured a depiction of an infant Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh — a traditional Arab headdress that has been repurposed after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel to signal support for the anti-Israel activist movement. Some observers suggested that the scene in St. Peter’s Square — which was titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024” and designed by two artists from Bethlehem, Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi — effectively erased Jesus’s Jewish roots.

“The pope’s inauguration of a nativity scene that showed baby Jesus cradled in a Palestinian keffiyeh is an affront to Jesus, the Bible, and the 80 percent of Christians who have fled Bethlehem since the Palestinian Authority took over the city,” Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, said of the display at the time.

“Let’s be clear. The pope can’t rewrite the Bible — Jesus was a Jew from Judea, not a Palestinian. He was born to a Jewish mother in Bethlehem, in Judea — there was no Palestine,” Cardoza-Moore continued. 

In November 2024, Francis released a book which condemned Israel for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The pope accused Israel, without evidence, of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza and suggested that the Jewish state’s military tactics could be tantamount to a “genocide.” The Catholic faith leader also praised Jordan and Lebanon for accepting war refugees while not mentioning either country’s human rights issues.

“In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” Francis wrote. 

Hezbollah, a terrorist group based out of southern Lebanon, pummeled northern Israeli communities almost daily with missiles, rockets, and drones following the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel perpetrated by Hamas, another Iran-backed terrorist group. The Lebanese Islamist movement fired over 10,000 projectiles at Israel over a year. About 70,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate their homes in northern Israel and flee to other parts of the country amid the unrelenting attacks.

Meanwhile, approximately 174,000 individuals of Palestinian descent currently reside in Jordan and are not eligible for citizenship within the state. These individuals are referred to as “ex-Gazans” and are generally excluded from state-run social support and health programs. Jordanians of Palestinian ancestry are generally underrepresented in the nation’s parliament and public universities partially due to discrimination and social barriers. 

“According to some experts,” Francis continued, “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

The pope later clarified his remarks, explaining that he does not necessarily believe the war in Gaza constitutes “genocide” but should still be “investigated.”

“I did not claim that Israel committed genocide,” he stated. “I was shown materials from the war, and I said that if this is true, then it needs to be investigated. I understand what is happening in Gaza. I think Hamas should no longer exist in the world, but the war should also not be prolonged.”

Francis’s increasingly sharp words led Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, spiritual leader of Rome’s Jewish community, in January to criticize the pope for unfairly focusing his attention on Israel compared to other ongoing world conflicts, including those in Sudan, Yemen, Syria, and Ethiopia.

“Selective indignation … weakens the pope’s strength,” the chief rabbi of Rome said. “A pope cannot divide the world into children and stepchildren and must denounce the sufferings of all. This is exactly what the pope does not do.”

In his Easter 2025 message, Francis expressed empathy for the plight of Palestinians and the suffering of Israelis, calling on the Hamas terrorist group to release the remaining hostages in Gaza and for Israel to cease its military campaign

“I express my closeness to the sufferings … of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” the pope said in his message. “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.”

Despite his sharp criticism of Israel, Francis has repeatedly expressed public empathy for the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza. 

In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, Francis said that he prays “for those families who saw a feast day turn into a day of mourning, and I ask that the hostages be immediately released.”

The pope also met with family members of hostages in April 2024 to hear their stories. Following the meeting, Ashley Waxman Bakshi, the relative of a hostage, said the pope was “very clear about his solidarity for the release of the hostages.”

Despite the pontiff’s tumultuous relations with Israel, leaders within the Jewish state paid their respects to the Catholic faith leader, recognizing his significance to Christians globally. 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog praised Francis as “a man of deep faith and boundless compassion.”

“He rightly saw great importance in fostering strong ties with the Jewish world and in advancing interfaith dialogue as a path toward greater understanding and mutual respect,” Herzog said.

The post Pope Francis Maintained Rocky Relationship With Israel, Condemned War in Gaza During Final Months first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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