Pope Francis, on Monday, November 25, railed against the conflicts in Ukraine and the Palestinian territories, where, he said, "the arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue."
The 87-year-old pontiff's words, spoken to diplomats at the Vatican, came just days after he called for an investigation into claims Israel was conducting "genocide" of Palestinians in Gaza.
Marking 40 years of a peace deal between Chile and his native Argentina, Francis recalled ongoing conflicts and criticized the arms trade, highlighting "the hypocrisy of speaking about peace and playing at war." "This hypocrisy always leads us to failure," he said in Spanish, adding that "dialogue must be the soul of the international community."
"I simply mention two failures of humanity today: Ukraine and Palestine, where there is suffering, where the arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue," he added, in an unscripted remark.
Francis, who took over as head of the worldwide Catholic Church in 2013, regularly prays for the people of Gaza and "martyred" Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022. Francis has also frequently called for the return of the Israeli hostages taken by Palestinian Islamist militants Hamas during the unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In extracts published this month of a forthcoming book, he called for claims that Israel was conducting "genocide" in Gaza – claims strongly rejected by Israel – to be "studied carefully."
The Vatican recognized the Palestinian territories as a sovereign state in 2013, signing a treaty in 2015.