His Holiness Pope Francis Trusts in ‘human wisdom’ to Avoid Escalation of War

His Holiness Pope Francis during the interview with Tg1 

In an interview with Italian news program Tg1, His Holiness Pope Francis speaks about the possibility of global conflict. Addressing a number topics, he says we must not become accustomed to war and he decries the arms trade.

By Vatican News

For His Holiness Pope Francis, a global escalation of the war that broke out in [Israel] and Palestine “is a possibility” but he hopes it does not happen by trusting in “human wisdom”. The Pope’s remarks came during a long interview with Gianmarco Chiocci, director of the Italian news program Tg1, which was broadcast Wednesday on Italy's public broadcaster RaiUno.

[Israel] and Gaza

Regarding the situation in the Middle East, the Pope affirmed once again, “Every war is a defeat. Nothing is solved with war. Nothing. Everything is gained with peace, with dialogue.” He continued, “They entered the kibbutzim, took hostages. They killed someone. And then the reaction. The [Israelis] go to recover those hostages, to save them. In war, one slap provokes another. One strong and the other even stronger, and so it goes on. War is a defeat. I felt it as one more defeat. Two peoples who must live together. With that wise solution: two peoples, two states. The Oslo Accords: two clearly delineated states and Jerusalem with a special status”.

Recalling last week’s prayer for peace, Pope Francis reiterated that the world is going through a “very dark hour.” He added, “One cannot find the ability to reflect clearly and at the darkest hour I will add: one more defeat. It has been like this since the last world war, from 1945 until now, one defeat after another, because the wars have not stopped. But the most serious problem still is the arms industry. A person who understands investments, who I met in a meeting, told me that today the investments that generate the most income are weapons factories”.

The Pope said he speaks every day by telephone to the religious who are in Gaza. “I call the Egyptian assistant parish priest, Father Yussuf, every day and he tells me, ‘In the parish we have 563 people, all Christians and also some Muslims. Sick children cared for by Mother Teresa’s nuns’. In this small parish, there are 563 people! Every day I try to accompany them. For the moment, thank God, the [Israelis] forces respect that parish.”

War and anti-Semitism

“I remember”, the Pope said, “a very hard moment at the beginning of the pontificate was when the war broke out in Syria with such force, and I held an act of prayer in the square, where there were Christians and also Muslims, who carried their carpet to pray. This was a very difficult moment. For me, it’s a bad thing, but then, it’s not nice to say this, you get used to it, unfortunately, you get used to it. We must not get used to it.”…

This report was originally published on the website of Vatican News. Please click here to read the full text.