Pope Francis: New Call for Peace in a Message for Catholic Easter at Vatican

In the need for peace to prevail he was mentioned in a talk he gave to the Catholic Passover. Pope Francis, in his message Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World) at the end of the Catholic Easter Mass, made a new appeal for peace. At St Peter’s Square in the Vatican over 60,000 believers attended the pontiff’s message. “Through the empty tomb of Jesus passes the new way, that which none of us, but only God was able to open. The way that passes through death, the way of peace in war, of reconciliation in hatred, of brotherhood in hostility,” the pope stressed. At times, his voice was wet and seemed slightly distressed, but he normally completed reading his analytical message to believers. “My thinking goes in particular to the victims of so many conflicts going on around the world, starting with Israel, Palestine, Ukraine. Let the Resurrection Lord open a way of peace for the populations so suffering in these areas. I call on respect for the principles of international law and hope that there will be a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine. For everyone!” the pontiff stressed. Pope Francis also called for humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza, for the hostages to be released on October 7th and for a immediate ceasefire to be signed in the Gaza Strip. “Let us not allow the hostilities in progress to have a serious impact on the civilian population, especially children. How much pain we see in their eyes. With their eyes they ask us, why? Why so many deaths? Why such a disaster? War is always absurd and defeat. Let us not let war winds, stronger and stronger, blow in Europe and the Mediterranean. Let us not yield to the logic of arms and arms. Peace is never built with weapons, but giving hands and opening hearts,” the pope stressed. Argentine pontiff, in his message, referred to the situation in Syria, Lebanon and the region of the western Balkans in which, he stressed, “significant steps are being taken towards the completion of the European project”. The franciscos called, finally, “to increase efforts to combat the plague of human trafficking.”