{"id":25296,"date":"2023-12-26T09:55:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T09:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths"},"modified":"2023-12-26T10:08:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T10:08:59","slug":"in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths","title":{"rendered":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jesuses of today\u201d and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an \u201cappalling harvest\u201d of innocent civilians.<\/p>\n

In his Christmas Day \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d (to the city and world) address, Francis also called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants \u201cabominable\u201d and again appealed for the release of around 100 hostages still being held in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he took another swipe at the armaments industry, saying it ultimately controlled the \u201cpuppet-strings of war\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 87-year-old Francis, celebrating the 11th Christmas of his pontificate, called for an end to conflicts, political, social or military, in places including Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and he defended the rights of migrants around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many innocents are being slaughtered in our world! In their mothers\u2019 wombs, in odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhood has been devastated by war. They are the little Jesuses of today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He gave particular attention to the Holy Land, including Gaza, where, according to Palestinian health officials, Israeli air strikes killed at least 78 people in one of the besieged enclave\u2019s deadliest nights of Israel\u2019s 11-week-old battle with Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay it (peace) come in Israel and Palestine, where war is devastating the lives of those peoples. I embrace them all, particularly the Christian communities of Gaza and the entire Holy Land,\u201d Francis said.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the same balcony where he first appeared to the world on the night of his election on March 13, 2013, he said his \u201cheart grieves for the victims of the abominable attack of 7 October\u201d and again called for the release of hostages.<\/p>\n

\u2018Appalling harvest\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, a U.N.-backed body said in a report that the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza was facing crisis levels of hunger and that the risk of famine was increasing every day.<\/p>\n

The Vatican, which has diplomatic relations with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, believes a two-state solution is the only answer to the long-running conflict. Francis called for \u201cpersevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dedicating an entire paragraph of his message to the weapons trade, Francis said: \u201cAnd how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?\u201d<\/p>\n

He called for more investigation of the armaments trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet-strings of war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Source: Reuters<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jesuses of today\u201d and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an \u201cappalling harvest\u201d of innocent civilians. In his Christmas Day \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d (to the city and world) address, Francis also called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[242,243,233],"class_list":["post-25296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jes ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jes ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-26T09:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-26T10:08:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1007\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-26T09:55:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-26T10:08:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\"},\"wordCount\":524,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\",\"name\":\"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths - Eritrea\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-26T09:55:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-26T10:08:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jes ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg\",\"width\":1506,\"height\":1007,\"caption\":\"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\",\"name\":\"Eritrea\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths - Eritrea","description":"Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jes ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths","og_description":"Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jes ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths","og_site_name":"Eritrea","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-12-26T09:55:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-26T10:08:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1506,"height":1007,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths","datePublished":"2023-12-26T09:55:36+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-26T10:08:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths"},"wordCount":524,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Eritrea","Eritrea"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths","name":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths - Eritrea","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-26T09:55:36+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-26T10:08:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the \u201clittle Jes ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/12\/sm_1703572568.512125.jpg","width":1506,"height":1007,"caption":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/in-christmas-day-message-pope-decries-gazas-appalling-harvest-of-civilian-deaths#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza\u2019s \u2018appalling harvest\u2019 of civilian deaths"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/","name":"Eritrea","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}