The day after Hamas\u2019 onslaught against Israel,\u2064 Pope Francis expressed<\/a>: \u201cEvery war is a \u2063defeat.\u201d A preemptive protest against retaliation, it\u2062 contradicted centuries of the Catholic Church\u2019s \u200bunderstanding of a just response to aggression. \u2064The ancient command to will good to all\u2062 men does \u200cnot mean leaving some of them loose to do evil to others.<\/p>\n

Careful not to name Hamas, Francis pleaded that \u201cthe\u200c armed attacks stop.\u201d His use\u2063 of the plural \u201cattacks<\/em>\u201d placed\u2064 terrorists and Israelis on the same moral plane. It avoided distinction between a war of extermination against Jews\u2064 and Israel\u2019s \u2062defensive action \u200cagainst genocidal barbarians.\u00a0\u2064 Francis broadened lament to conflicts everywhere \u2063(especially\u200c in \u201cbeloved\u200b Ukraine\u201d), and added: \u201cLet us pray that there be peace in Israel and\u200d Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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America magazine, the Jesuits\u2019 flagship magazine, praised\u2064 Francis\u2019 \u200cavoidance<\/a> as \u201ca \u200dmeasured appeal.\u201d Papal reluctance \u200dto identify\u2063 a clear aggressor sets the \u200btone of reaction down \u200cthe chain of \u2064command to bishoprics and parishes.<\/p>\n
My own\u2064 neighborhood parishes have been calling for prayers for peace between Israel and Palestine since \u2062Oct. 7. The focus of \u2064this urging is the\u2062 elusive dream \u2064of peace\u200c in general. Hamas is not \u2062mentioned. The \u200dwords \u201cdepravity\u201d and \u201cJew-hatred\u201d go unspoken. Congregants are \u200bdiscouraged \u2063from praying for Israelis to \u200btriumph over their tormentors. \u2063Pressure is \u2062on to remain\u200c neutral.<\/p>\n
Victory is the one outcome\u200c that Western media and the \u201cinternational community\u201d will not accept. Neither will Francis. His \u200d\u201cmeasured appeal\u201d applies the tactic \u2064of \u201caccompaniment\u201d to geopolitical issues. Accompaniment\u2063 is Francis\u2019 pretext for \u200bwithholding judgment on moral\u2064 issues. Here, it provides a hedge that suggests moral \u2063equivalence between \u2062Israel and Gaza without explicitly stating so.<\/p>\n
Why is it so difficult for decent men to take a stand\u2062 in the face of atrocity? What holds them back?<\/p>\n
It helps to look\u2064 at\u200b their superiors, \u2063men who have risen \u2063in a clerical bureaucracy that leans left. At this moment, the spotlight \u200bis on\u2063 Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa<\/a>. Francis appointed him Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem\u200d three years ago. He received\u2063 his red hat\u2063 on Sept. 30, less than a month ago. That was \u2064just in time to insinuate sympathy for the \u2063homicidal Gazans. <\/p>\n
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Cardinal Pizzaballa described the Gaza Strip as \u201can open-air prison<\/a>,\u201d a catchphrase \u2063from the alternative universe of leftist grievances. He spoke of \u201coccupied territories,\u201d the prevailing term used to criticize Israel as \u200da colonial oppressor. Successfully promoted by\u2062 Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority (PA), this term does not align\u2064 with historical\u2064 facts.<\/p>\n
Palestinian resentment towards Israel’s existence predates \u200cIsrael’s presence in Gaza. The Palestine Liberation\u2064 Organization (PLO) was formed in 1964 \u2014 three years<\/em> before<\/em> Israel gained legitimate control of the West Bank\u200d and Gaza by defending itself\u200d in the Six Day War of 1967. The \u200bPLO’s\u200b stated objective\u2063 was to eliminate Israel through armed struggle. Furthermore, Israel \u200dcompletely withdrew \u2014 settlements and military \u200binstallations \u2014 from Gaza in 2005. \u200cIf Gaza can be considered \u2062a colony, its elected \u200dcolonizer is Hamas.<\/p>\n
But history \u200dis\u200c malleable to Pizzaballa, who adopts the language \u200bof the left. Francis\u200b is\u200d aware \u200cof\u2062 this.<\/p>\n
On the day \u2062of \u2062Gaza’s attack,\u2063 the cardinal issued a revealing\u200d statement:\u2063 \u201cThe operation launched from Gaza and the reaction\u2063 of the Israeli army \u2026 will destroy more \u200band \u2063more any perspective\u200b of stability.\u201d While blood was still fresh on the \u200cwalls of kibbutzim, he erased any distinction between Gaza’s deliberate massacre \u200bof \u200dJews and \u200dIsrael’s defensive response. This toxic pretense of \u2064impartiality from a Vatican appointee trickles\u200c down to the parish level.<\/p>\n
On \u200bOct. 18, the\u200d pope declared Oct. 27 <\/a>a\u200b day of prayer. He urged believers “to take only one \u2062side in the conflict, that\u2063 of peace.” But peace does not \u2063simply\u200c materialize. It must be achieved on the ground through the victory\u200d of one side over another. Which side of the Israeli-Gaza border holds greater\u2064 promise\u2063 for establishing and maintaining\u2063 a just peace? Francis refuses to say.<\/p>\n
My local church asks us to pray without moral clarity. Can God find a middle ground between a humane\u200d society and a perpetually inflamed,\u2064 murderous one? Prayers for an idyllic fantasy are self-congratulatory gestures\u2062 no more \u200ceffective than trance music at \u200da peace and love festival in the Negev. \u2063They\u2062 do not halt rockets or deranged \u200ckillers.<\/p>\n
The\u2062 word “peace” carries a very different meaning in Islam. It signifies a world in which\u200d everyone is Muslim and\u200b everyone is subservient\u2064 to Islamic law. The ultimate \u2063goal of Islamic terrorism is\u200c to advance\u2063 Islam \u2014 an enduring objective that extends far \u2063beyond the Middle East. The extent of this has been\u200c evident in our streets and on our campuses in recent\u2064 weeks.<\/p>\n
Let my pastor pray for an innocent peace. I am praying for a decisive victory by Israel over Hamas.<\/p>\n
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rnrn <\/p>\n
Why does Cardinal Pizzaballa fail to identify the group responsible for the \u2062attacks on civilians?<\/h2>\n
Argeting the civilian \u200dpopulation \u2064is inhumane and represents an unacceptable escalation of violence.\u201d While he does acknowledge\u2063 the targeting of civilians, he fails to identify the group responsible for\u2063 these \u2064attacks. This deliberate omission reflects a dangerous tendency to\u200d equate the actions of terrorists with those defending themselves against aggression.<\/p>\n
This pattern of ambiguity is not limited to Cardinal \u2063Pizzaballa. It \u2064is evident in the broader leadership \u2064of \u200dthe Catholic Church, including Pope Francis himself. The Pope’s recent statement, calling for an end to armed attacks without explicitly naming Hamas, undermines \u200cthe moral clarity\u2064 necessary in times of conflict. By failing to distinguish between the perpetrators of violence and\u200b those defending themselves, the Pope risks perpetuating a false narrative of \u200c moral equivalence<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This reluctance to take a stand against aggression and condemn the actions of terrorist groups\u2062 raises important questions<\/a>. Why is it so difficult for\u2062 decent\u200b men,\u200b even within\u2064 the higher\u200c ranks of \u200cthe Church, to\u2062 unequivocally denounce acts of terror? What drives this inclination towards neutrality and equivocation?<\/p>\n
One possible explanation lies in the prevailing progressive ideology within the Church \u200bhierarchy. Over the years, many high-ranking clerics have risen \u2063through\u2063 a bureaucratic system that often leans left. This ideological \u2063bias influences their perception \u200cof geopolitical \u2064issues and\u200d shapes their response to conflicts such as the one between Israel and \u2062Gaza.<\/p>\n
Cardinal\u200c Pizzaballa’s recent comments exemplify this left-leaning perspective<\/a>. By characterizing Gaza as an “open-air prison” and using the term “occupied territories” to criticize Israel, he aligns himself with a narrative that portrays Israel as a colonial oppressor. This narrative, promoted by Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, does not \u2063accurately\u2063 reflect the \u2063historical\u200c facts.<\/p>\n
The establishment of the PLO in 1964, three years\u200c before \u200bIsrael gained control of \u200bthe West\u200b Bank\u2064 and\u200d Gaza, demonstrates \u200bthat Palestinian resentment\u200b towards Israel’s \u2064existence predates\u200c its presence\u2064 in Gaza. The PLO’s objective was to eliminate Israel through armed struggle, and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza \u2062in \u200d2005 further \u200bundermines the claim of\u2062 occupation.<\/p>\n
Despite these facts, Cardinal Pizzaballa adopts the language of the\u200c left, perpetuating a distorted understanding of the\u2062 conflict and undermining efforts to\u200b achieve a just and lasting peace. \u2064Pope Francis must \u200crecognize the danger inherent in \u2063this kind of rhetoric and actively work\u200b towards fostering\u2063 a more balanced and\u200d informed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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