Pope Francis has warned of an “ugly situation” in Holy Land because “it is being devastated by Christians” for a war that is destructive in a “brutal way,” calling for a “ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.

“I think about the ugly situation that this land is being depopulated by Christians…” Francisco explained in his audience to the participants of the 97th Plenary Meeting of the Conference for Relief of the Church in the East (ROACO). which ended this Thursday, June 27th.

The Pontiff called on the Eastern Churches, which he called the “Churches of Martyrs”, to encourage Christians there and throughout the Middle East to be stronger than the temptation to leave their lands devastated by conflict.

“How much pain war causes, even more severe and absurd in those places where the Gospel of peace was preached!” – Dad lamented! Thus, he used his public appearance to once again demand peace in the region. “Stop! Stop, because violence will never bring peace,” he urged those with political responsibility in conflicts. There is an urgent need for a ceasefire, meetings and dialogue to ensure coexistence between different peoples. the only possible path to a stable future,” he assured about the situation in the Gaza Strip.

In addition, he was concerned about the risk of the conflict spreading to other parts of the region and assured that the war is a “senseless and fruitless adventure” in which “no one will emerge victorious.” “Everyone will be a loser, because war from the very beginning is already a defeat,” he said.

He thus called for listening to civil society, which is “tired of warlike rhetoric, of sterile refrains that always blame others, dividing the world into good and bad, of leaders who are eager to sit at the negotiating table to find mediation and promote solutions.”

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Finally, he condemned that the Eastern Churches live “crushed by a heavy cross” because they are “wounded and bleeding from the conflicts and violence they suffer.”

(Europe Press)