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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church's highest ranking prelate in the Holy Land offered his "absolute availability" to be exchanged for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, told reporters during an online meeting Oct. 16 that he is willing to do "anything" to "bring to freedom and bring home the children" taken into Gaza during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,300 Israelis were killed. The Israeli military said Oct. 16 that some 200 people, including children and elderly persons, are being held hostage.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Terrorism, violence, barbarism and extremism undermine the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state. "War is always the defeat of dignity and an occasion for not reaching any solution," he said, hoping that all weapons would be silenced and reason prevail so that there can be pause to reflect on the right way to achieve peace in Israel and Palestine.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "War is a defeat," Pope Francis insisted as he called for prayers for peace in Israel and Palestine. Speaking to thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square Oct. 8 for the recitation of the Angelus prayer, the pope said he is following events in Israel and Gaza "with apprehension and sorrow." A day earlier, militants in Gaza launched a massive attack on southern Israel, firing rockets and breaching the border.

Rather than foment hate and seek revenge, Palestinians and Israelis need to engage in dialogue in the pursuit of peace, Pope Francis said.

In a time when social networks can tend to divide people, Christian media must instead work to unite men and women, Pope Francis said.

The Franciscan order's six U.S. provincials told President Joe Biden in a joint letter May 19 that "now is the time for boldness to end the immediate violence" in the Holy Land.

While the current cease-fire between Israel and Hamas brings a much-needed halt to violence in the Holy Land, true peace can only be achieved if both sides are recognized as equals, said the Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See.

The injury and death of so many innocent people, especially children, caused by escalating violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip is "terrible and unacceptable," putting the area at risk of sinking into "a spiral of death and destruction," Pope Francis said.

As Israel escalated its assault on Gaza May 14, the nation also faced growing civil unrest in its mixed Jewish-Arab cities, considered a symbol coexistence.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace called on Israelis and Palestinians to end the violence in Jerusalem and Gaza that has claimed dozens of lives and left hundreds of people injured.