Rome Newsroom, Oct 16, 2023 / 06:25 am
Israel has called on the Vatican to issue a clearer condemnation of Hamas’ “terrorist acts,” according to a press release from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Comments from Pope Francis and other Vatican officials in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel have called for peace in the region while condemning violence against civilians on both sides. In an interview with Vatican News on Oct. 13, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, called Hamas’ attacks “inhuman” and said the Holy See expresses “complete and firm condemnation.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke with the Holy See’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, about the situation in Israel and Palestine on the evening of Oct. 15.
According to a statement issued after the talk, Cohen said Israel expects “the Holy See to issue an unequivocal and clear condemnation of the murderous terrorist acts perpetrated by Hamas terrorists that caused grievous harm to children, women, and the elderly just because they are Jews and Israelis.”