“FORGOTTEN HOW TO SMILE”: POPE RENEWS CALL FOR GAZA CEASEFIRE, RELEASE OF CAPTIVES IN EASTER ADDRESS

Sun 31 March 2024:

On Easter Sunday, one of the most significant day in the Christian calendar, Pope Francis reiterated his appeals for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all Israeli captives.

After conducting mass in a crowded St. Peter’s Square, Francis spoke from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, bestowing his blessing and message “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world).

“I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized on last October 7 and for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip,” he said.

“Let us not allow the current hostilities to continue to have grave repercussions on the civil population, by now at the limit of its endurance, and above all on the children,” he said in a speech that also touched on the plight of Haitians, the Rohingya and victims of human trafficking.

“How much suffering we see in the eyes of children, the children have forgotten to smile in those war zones. With their eyes, children ask us: Why? Why all this death? Why all this destruction? War is always an absurdity and a defeat”, he said.

This year, Francis said his thoughts went particularly to people in Ukraine and Gaza and all those facing war, particularly the children who he said had “forgotten how to smile”. Francis has repeatedly deplored the death and destruction in the Gaza war.

UNICEF reported earlier this month that Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in Gaza since the war began on October 7, while others are suffering from severe malnutrition and do not “even have the energy to cry”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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