No media representatives were present at the meetings but members of the Palestinian delegation told the media that the pope had described Israel’s actions as “genocide”.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said he didn’t believe that Francis used that term.
“He used the terms he used during the general audience and regardless represent the terrible situation that Gaza is living,” Bruni said.
The Palestinian delegation insisted nonetheless that Pope Francis described Israel’s military incursion as “genocide.”
After the meeting, the Pope made a speech in St. Peter’s Square in which he said that he heard “how both sides suffer” and how the war between Israel and Hamas has “transformed from war to terror.”
At the speech, some people in the VIP seats wearing Palestinian scarves held up small posters showing bodies in a ditch and the word “Genocide” written underneath.
“This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars, the Pope said. “This is not war. This is terrorism,” he said. “Please, let us go ahead with peace. Pray for peace, pray a lot for peace.”
He asked for prayers so that both sides would “resolve problems and not go ahead with passions that are killing everyone in the end.”
On Thursday, the Council of the Assembly of Italian Rabbis (ARI) accused the pope of “publicly accusing both sides of terrorism”.
It went on to accuse unnamed “Church leaders” of not condemning the Hamas attack and of “putting the aggressor and the attacked on the same plane in the name of a supposed impartiality”.
Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Jewish Communities in Italy, issued a statement Wednesday saying that she would have preferred Francis had issued a clear condemnation of the massacre of over 1,200 Israelis by Hamas on October 7.
“Certainly we cannot equate the responsibilities of those who have a design of extermination and terror versus those who are defending themselves and defending an entire country and a community that includes both Muslims and Palestinians,” Di Segni said.
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