With Pope Francis now laid to rest, I would like to address some of his words and deeds which I found unsettling where it concerns Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Based on statements collected by the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations between the October 7th attacks and his death earlier this month, it is clear that the late pontiff had far more sympathy for the Palestinians than he did for the hostages taken by Hamas. Pope Francis invoked "Gaza" 56 times while only mentioning "hostages" 30 times. He only mentioned Hamas once and this mention is in dispute.
What is not in dispute is that the Pope invoked the word "genocide" with regard to Israel's military operations in Gaza and that such claims ought to be investigated. And yet what of Hamas' genocidal designs on the Jews?
It would seem that Hamas' reign of terror of kidnapping, rape and murder didn't move Francis a great deal. The Pope was content to casually accuse Israel of deliberately killing babies and children. Last December, the late pontiff stated, “And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty.”
The notion that Israel deliberately machine-gunned children while wantonly bombing schools and hospitals is not only defamation, but also blood libel.
As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. During the Christmas season, Pope Francis had no trouble blessing a Nativity scene depicting baby Jesus draped in a keffiyeh.
Now, I don't expect the Pope to endorse military operations from any country. But I do expect the Pope not to parrot Palestinian propaganda while minimizing the suffering of the hostages at the hands of Hamas and their intentions to wipe out Jews from the face of the Earth. I can only hope the next Pope will be more understanding of this reality.
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