Pope Leo XIV offered mediation in military conflicts around the world during an audience with representatives of 23 Eastern Christian churches held today at the Vatican, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reports.
“The Holy See is at your disposal so that warring countries can meet and look each other in the eye - so that people can rediscover the hope and dignity to which they are entitled - the dignity of peace“, the pope said in his address.
He expressed alarm at the multitude of military conflicts - “from the Holy Land to Ukraine, from Lebanon to Syria, from the Middle East to Tigray (Ethiopia) and the Caucasus“ - and strongly condemned the violence, calling for international efforts to achieve peace.
“I will do everything in my power to spread peace“, Leo XIV promised.
“The people want peace. And with my hand on my heart I say to the world leaders: let them meet, let them talk, let them negotiate! War is never inevitable. "The weapons can and must be silenced because they do not solve the problems - they only deepen them," the pope stressed, following the peaceful line of his predecessor Francis.
Pope Leo XIV thanked "Eastern and Roman Catholic Christians who - especially in the Middle East - resist and do not succumb to the temptation to leave their native lands."
"Christians must have the opportunity - and not only in words - to remain in their lands, with full respect for the rights necessary for their existence," he added.
Christians are a minority in the Middle East and parts of Asia - including in Iraq, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon (including the Maronites), Egypt (with the Coptic community), Iran, India and Pakistan, AFP recalls. Many of these communities, which have existed since the dawn of Christianity, have been subjected to discrimination and persecution by various regimes over the centuries.
In the Gaza Strip, home to about 2.4 million people, Christians number about a thousand, most of whom are Orthodox. According to the Latin Patriarchate, there are only 135 Catholics in the territory.