“In Gaza an unacceptable carnage ». The Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, in the long interview with the Roman Observer clarifies the position of the Holy See. The massacre of October condemns with strength and reiterates the availability of the Holy See to help for the return home of the hostages. At the same time, however, denounces that it is not possible to reduce people to collateral victims. “Today,” says the Cardinal, “the situation in Gaza is even more serious and tragic than a year ago, after a devastating war that has claimed tens of thousands of deaths. It is necessary to recover the meaning of reason, abandon the blind logic of hatred and revenge, refuse violence as a solution. It is the right of those who are attacked defending themselves, but also the legitimate defense must respect the parameter of proportionality “. And, on the other hand, “unfortunately the war that arose has had disastrous and inhuman consequences … it strikes me and afflicts me the daily count of the dead in Palestine, dozens, indeed sometimes hundreds a day, many children whose only fault seems to be to be born there: we risk adduing to this carnage! People killed while trying to reach a toy of bread, people who remained buried under the rubble of their homes, people bombed in hospitals, in the tent cities, displaced people forced to move from one part of that narrow and overpopulated territory to the other. It is unacceptable and unjustifiable to reduce human people to mere “collateral victims” “.
The Secretary of State also comments on the Events in Piazza of the last few days reiterating that “even if sometimes these initiatives, due to the violence of a few factorosis, risk making a wrong message go on media, positively affects me participation in the events, and the commitment of many young people. It is the sign that we are not condemned to indifference. We must take that desire for peace seriously, that desire for commitment … It goes of our future, it goes about the future of our world ».
AND In the face of those who “support, even in the Church, who in the face of all this must first of all pray, do not go into the square in order not to play the game of the violent” the cardinal replies that “I am a baptized, I am a believer, I am a priest: for me the incessant prayer before God because he assist us, help us and intervene to put an end to this by supporting the efforts of women and men of good will is essential, daily, fundamental. The prayer will never be enough, but It will never even be the concrete commitment enough, the mobilization of consciences, the initiatives of peace, the awareness, even at the cost of appearing ” Out of the world ”, even at the cost of risking: there is a silent majority – also composed of many young people – who does not surrender to this inhumanity. They too are called to pray. To think that our role, as Christians, is to lock ourselves in the sacristies, I find it deeply wrong. Prayer also calls a commitment, a testimony, to concrete choices ».
And on the peace level adds: “Any plan that involves the Palestinian people in decisions on their future and allows you to finish this massacre, freeing the hostages and stopping the daily killing of hundreds of people, it is to be welcomed and supported. The Holy Father also hoped that the parties accept and that a path of peace can finally begin ». According to the cardinal, however, the international community “certainly can do much more than what he is doing. It is not enough to say that it is unacceptable what happens and then continue to allow it to happen ».
“It seems evident,” he adds, “that The war perpetrated by the Israeli army to defeat Hamas’s militiamen does not take into account that it has a mostly helpless population in front of and reduced to the narrow strength, in an area scattered with houses and buildings razed to the ground: just see the aerial images to realize what Gaza is today. It seems to me equally evident that the international community is unfortunately helpless and that the countries capable of truly influenced to date have not done it to stop the carnage in progress. I can only repeat the very clear words pronounced in this regard on 20 July by Pope Leo XIV: ” To the international community I address the appeal to observe humanitarian law and to respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, indiscriminate use of the strength and forced movement of the population ”. Words that still wait to be welcomed and understood “.
For the cardinal the solution two peoples, two states remains the optimal solution for the Middle East “but we cannot fail to notice with concern that Israeli declarations and decisions go in an opposite direction and, that is, they intend to prevent the possible birth of a real Palestinian state forever. The Holy See officially recognized the state of Palestine ten years ago, with the global agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine. The preamble of that international agreement fully supports a right, inclusive and peaceful resolution of the Palestine question, in all its aspects, in accordance with international law and all the relevant UN resolutions. At the same time, he claims a state of Palestine that is independent, sovereign, democratic and practicable, inclusive of the West Bank, of Jerusalem Est and Gaza. The same agreement identifies this state not in opposition to others, but capable of living side by side of its neighbors, in peace and safely “. And today “we look with satisfaction with the fact that several countries of the world have recognized the state of Palestine. But we cannot fail to notice with concern that Israeli declarations and decisions go in an opposite direction ». And he concludes that “the birth of a Palestinian state – after what happened in the last two years it seems even more valid to me. It is the way, that of the two peoples in two states, that the Holy See has pursued from the beginning. The fate of the two peoples and the two states are interconnected ».
