(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 05.11.2023).- On Sunday afternoon, November 5, Pope Francis received a phone call from Ebrahim Raisi, the President of Iran. The Holy See Press Office stressed that the call was held at the request the Irani leader.
A publication on the Website of the Irani Presidency states that President Raisi thanked the Pope for his appeals for a cease-fire in Gaza. In fact, at the end of the recitation of the Marian Angelusprayer on November 5, Pope Francis again highlighted this need.
“I continue to think about the serious situation in Palestine and in Israel, where many, many people have lost their lives. In God’s name, I beg you to stop: cease using weapons! I hope that avenues will be pursued so that an escalation of the conflict might be absolutely avoided, so that the wounded can be rescued and help might get to the population of Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely serious. May the hostages be freed immediately. There are also many children among them – may they return to their families! Yes, let’s think of the children, of all the children affected by this war, as well as in Ukraine and by other conflicts: this is how their future is being killed. Let us pray that there might be the strength to say, “enough.”
This appeal is one of a number the Pontiff has made previously to U.S. President Joe Biden; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and also to the Palestinian leader, Mahmud Abbas. On October 30 the Irani Chancellor held a phone call with the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States.
The Holy See’s diplomatic position is the Two-States solution with clearly delimited borders and a special statute for Jerusalem.