Vatican Secretary of State condemns global inaction over Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, stated that the situation in Gaza has become even more dangerous and tragic than it was a year ago, following a devastating war that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Speaking to Vatican media on the second anniversary of what he described as Israel’s genocide war in Gaza, the Cardinal added: “We need to recover a sense of reason, abandon the blind logic of hatred and revenge, and reject violence as a solution. Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves, but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality. Unfortunately, the resulting war has brought about disastrous and inhuman consequences… I am struck and deeply afflicted by the daily death toll in Palestine—dozens, sometimes hundreds, every day—so many children whose only fault seems to be having been born there.”

Cardinal Parolin warned that “We risk becoming desensitised to this carnage! People killed while trying to find a piece of bread, buried under the rubble of their homes, bombed in hospitals, in tent camps, displaced and forced to move from one end of that narrow, overcrowded territory to another… It is unacceptable and unjustifiable to reduce human beings to mere “collateral damage.”

Urging the international community to act, he said that: “It seems evident that the war waged by the Israeli army…disregards the fact that it is targeting a largely defenseless population, already pushed to the brink, in an area where buildings and homes are reduced to rubble. A simple look at aerial images is enough to understand what Gaza looks like today. It is equally clear that the international community is, unfortunately, powerless and that the countries truly capable of exerting influence have so far failed to act to stop the ongoing massacre.”

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