Pope Francis prays for peace in Palestine, Ukraine, ignores Israel

Pope Francis yesterday prayed for peace in Palestine and Ukraine, ignoring Israel, which he had always included in his sermons, amid diplomatic tension between the two, Anadolu news agency reported.

The Anadolu correspondent said the Pope called for peace in Sudan and Mozambique, and asked not to forget the conflicts in Africa and various parts of the world.

“In Europe, Palestine and Ukraine… do not forget that war is always a defeat,” he added.

Pope Francis has always included Israel in his traditional Sunday prayers and other important events.

The Pope’s failure to include Israel in his prayers coincided with diplomatic tension that occurred a few days ago between the Vatican and Israel.

On 13 February, the Vatican Secretary of State , Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said a very large number of people were killed in the Israeli attacks, adding that public opinion demands Tel Aviv to stop its attacks on Gaza.

“There is a demand that Israel’s right to defend itself be proportionate, and it is clear that this is not the case with the killing of 30,000 people,” he said.

He believed that everyone is dissatisfied with the “massacre” currently happening in Gaza, calling for courage to move forward and not lose hope.

The next day, the Israeli embassy to the Vatican issued a statement that strongly criticised Parolin’s statements, describing them as “shameful”, causing backlash from the Vatican.

The Israeli embassy had to immediately retract the statement and issued another on 15 February, claiming it wanted to use the word “unfortunate” instead of “shameful”, and an error occurred while translating the original text of the statement, prepared in English, into Italian.

Read: ICJ demands Israel immediately implement its Gaza measure