Pope Francis is continuing his efforts for peace in the Holy Land. As confirmed by the Holy See, on the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 5, the Holy Father had a conversation with the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi.
The Vatican has limited itself to confirming that the call took place at the request of Raisi, who, according to a statement from the Iranian president’s office, thanked the Holy Father for his calls for peace and said that it is duty of followers of all Abraha-mic religions to “support the oppressed people of Palestine.”
Raisi asked the Holy Father to exert his influence in the West to end the attacks in Gaza, which he called “the greatest genocide of the century.”
He also urged Pope Francis to “correctly explain the position of the oppressor and the oppre-ssed” in the conflict.
In his Nov. 5 Angelus, Pope Francis renewed his call for a cease-fire and said he hoped that “avenues will be pursued so that an escalation of the conflict might be absolutely avoided, so that the wounded can be rescued and help might get to the population of Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely serious.”
He also called for the imme-diate release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, especially child-ren.
The phone call was in addition to the different conversations the pontiff has had with various lead-ers since Hamas terrorists atta-cked Israel on Oct. 7.