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Pope Francis, asked about Israeli strikes, slams attacks that go 'beyond morality'

September 29, 2024 at 5:13 pm

Pope Francis celebrates a mass for the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, Vatican on January 06, 2024 [Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu Agency]

Pope Francis, asked on Sunday about Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as well as non-combatants, criticised military attacks that he said go “beyond morality”, Reuters reports.

On the flight back to Rome from Belgium, the pontiff said countries cannot go “over the top” in using their military forces. “Even in war there is a morality to safeguard,” he said. “War is immoral. But the rules of war give it some morality.”

Responding to a question during an in-flight press conference about Israel’s latest strikes, the 87-year-old pope said: “Defence must always be proportionate to the attack. When there is something disproportionate, you see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality.”

Francis, as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, often makes calls for an end to violent conflicts, but is usually cautious about appearing to determine the aggressors. He has spoken more openly in recent weeks about Israel’s military actions in its nearly year-long war against Hamas.

Last week, the pope said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon were “unacceptable” and urged the international community to do everything possible to halt the fighting. In a Sept. 28 press conference, he decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli strikes in Gaza.

Francis said on Sunday he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every day”. He said the parishioners tell him about conditions on the ground, and “also the cruelty that is happening there”.

READ: Entire family of 17 wiped out in Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon