Pope Francis met individually Wednesday with kin of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians dwelling by way of the struggle and set off a firestorm through the use of phrases that Vatican diplomats normally keep away from: “terrorism” and, in keeping with the Palestinians, “genocide.”

Francis spoke in regards to the struggling of each Israelis and Palestinians after his conferences, which had been organized earlier than the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a short lived halt in preventing was introduced. Francis didn’t consult with the deal, which marked the largest diplomatic breakthrough for the reason that struggle erupted following Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

Francis met on the Vatican with 12 kin of among the 240 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for about 20 minutes. Separately, he met for about the identical period of time with 10 Palestinians whose kin have been killed or in any other case affected by the struggle in Gaza, together with clergymen who minister there.

Francis spoke in regards to the conferences on the finish of his weekly basic viewers in St. Peter’s Square, the place some folks within the VIP seats carrying Palestinian scarves held up small posters exhibiting our bodies in a ditch and the phrase “Genocide” written beneath.

“Here we’ve gone beyond war. This isn’t war anymore, this is terrorism,” Francis instructed the group. “Please, let us go ahead with peace. Pray for peace, pray a lot for peace.” – AP