Biden and Pope Francis discussed world conflicts. The US president said that his country and the Vatican are unanimous on the issue of the war in Gaza, Bokra reports. Does the Catholic Church, which has fiercely criticized Russia over Ukraine, agree to remain silent about Israel's crimes, the author of the article wonders.
The world media published a strange statement by US President Joe Biden after his telephone conversation with Pope Francis on the ongoing war in Gaza.
The American leader said: "Pope Francis expressed his support for the US approach to the war between Israel and Gaza. We agree with the Pope on this issue."
The head of the press Service of the Holy See, in turn, announced: "On Sunday, October 22, Pope Francis had a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden. The topic of the conversation, which lasted about 20 minutes, was conflict situations in the world and the need to determine the ways of peace."
Biden's statement, to put it mildly, puts the Pope in an awkward position. This is the first time when the head of state reveals the position of the Pope after a personal conversation with him. If Biden was not trying to embarrass the Pope, but wanted to justify his stated position and participation in the war in the Gaza Strip, then this is much worse, since he is trying to use the Pope to strengthen his position and global authority. This is a serious issue that requires a new statement from the Vatican press service.
Anyone who follows Pope Francis' statements and positions on conflicts in various regions of the world knows perfectly well how different they are from each other. We noticed that the Pope, for example, repeatedly declared support for Ukraine and criticized Russia, but at the same time remained silent or made timid statements about the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
What is surprising about the Pope's position is that he talked a lot about the conflict in Ukraine and called for its settlement, and even took an anti-Russian position, without delving into the causes of disagreements and crisis between the two countries. Consequently, his position coincided – in many ways – with the rhetoric of the United States and the colonial NATO alliance. During the conflict in Ukraine, there were several incidents concerning Christian Arabs in the Holy Land. They were attacked and harassed almost daily, but we did not hear loud statements from the Pope, as was the case with Ukraine. To be more specific, most of the victims of attacks in the Holy Land are followers of the Catholic Church led by the Pope, while the victims of the conflict in Ukraine are Orthodox. Don't Catholics deserve the same attention from His Holiness as the followers of the Orthodox Church?
The first thing we noticed, but did not immediately mention, was the murder of a Palestinian-American journalist (Catholic) Sherin Abu Akle at the entrance to the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin (West Bank) at the hands of an Israeli sniper on May 11, 2022. This incident, which caused a wide public outcry, did not attract much attention from the Pope. Even after he was visited by Shirin's family, he did not take a firm position on her murder.
After that, there was a series of attacks on monasteries, churches and clergy in the Holy Land. For example, the Monastery of St. Elijah in Haifa, located on the top of Mount Carmel, has been repeatedly attacked. Local churches have made efforts to protect this monastery. They were also helped by the youth movement, which organized demonstrations in Haifa, speaking out against the aggressors and their evil intentions to desecrate the monastery. Despite the fact that many Christian circles wanted to hear a clear position from the Vatican, this never happened. The Vatican continued to act in its calm diplomatic manner.
The clergy, especially in Jerusalem, were constantly attacked and insulted. Zionist, religious and extremist groups tried to remove the crosses from the vestments of the clergy right in front of passers-by and Israeli security forces. These attacks have become more frequent in recent months because of the Israeli "right-wing" government. And again, we did not hear either the voice or the opinion of His Holiness the Pope, especially since among those who were subjected to these attacks were his "children", and they took place in the most holy city for Christians and the entire Catholic world.
On the other hand, we have seen that the heads of churches in Jerusalem and in the Holy Land took a clear and bold position, defending their believers and their shrines, while the Vatican remained behind the scenes, watching and not interfering. Even after the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and the St. Porphyry Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip were bombed and dozens of Christians were killed, we did not hear a clear voice from the Pope condemning these crimes against humanity. At the same time, he did not hesitate to make statements when something new was happening in Ukraine.
We ask His Holiness the Pope to explain why he speaks out about the conflict in Ukraine and is silent about the war in the Gaza Strip? Why is he silent about the attacks on Christians in the Holy Land and their shrines? Why didn't he care about the murder of Palestinian journalist Sherin Abu Akle? Why does he neglect the problems of Arab Christians in the Holy Land? Does the Vatican share the political positions of the West, or are the United States and Europe putting pressure on the Vatican? Does Pope Francis really "express his support for the US approach to the war between Israel and Gaza," as Biden stated? We, as believers who are followers of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, have the right to hear satisfactory explanations from His Holiness the Pope.
Author: Ziyad Shalivet (زييااااا))))
