Hezbollah Praises Late Pope Francis for His Stance on Gaza.
The Lebanese Hezbollah movement has issued a statement of mourning following the death of Pope Francis, praising his position on the war in Gaza that has spread into Lebanon over the past year and a half.
The group was joined by Iran and other allies of the Axis of Resistance coalition, including the Palestinian Hamas movement, in sharing positive remarks about the head of the Catholic Church who died Monday at age 88 following a protracted illness. Their conflict with Israel rages on despite Francis’ persistent pleas for a ceasefire, including during his final address on Easter Sunday.
“Hezbollah extends its sincere condolences to the Vatican, the followers of the Catholic Church worldwide, and all Christians, especially our Christian brothers in Lebanon and the Papal Embassy there, on the passing of the Pope of the Catholic Church, Jorge Mario Bergoglio [Pope Francis],” Hezbollah said in a statement issued Monday.
“He believed in peace, called for the renunciation of war, and worked with deep faith to cultivate the values of love and tolerance, building bridges between religions, civilizations, and peoples in order to establish dialogue, understanding, and justice.”
Hezbollah specifically hailed Francis’ “unequivocal positions calling for an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip [until the last moments of his life], his condemnation of the massacres being perpetrated against our people in Palestine, his demand for humanitarian aid, and his official recognition of the State of Palestine, His support for the Palestinian cause, in addition to his constant support for Lebanon at every stage and his condemnation of the Israeli aggression against it, embody the sincerity of his call and his commitment to human values that reject injustice everywhere.”
The group also called upon the Lebanese people, “regardless of their sects and backgrounds, are called upon to recall the words of Pope Francis, who described Lebanon as a “message of great meaning,” expressing a model of coexistence and national unity,” as well as “to draw from his spirit the wisdom and strength to confront challenges and counter attempts to sow discord and division in our beloved country, Lebanon.”
Pope Francis was a staunch advocate of efforts to end the war that has raged in the Middle East since Hamas launched the October 7, 2023, surprise attack against Israel. The conflict would spread across multiple fronts in the region, including in Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah have engaged in their most intensive clash since their last full-scale confrontation in 2008.
“I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible! From the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of the Resurrection, where this year Easter is being celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox on the same day, may the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world,” Francis said in his final address on Easter Sunday. “I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.
“The growing climate of antisemitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation. I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”
He also urged prayers “for the Christian communities in Lebanon and in Syria,” describing how the peoples of both nations “aspire to stability and to participation in the life of their respective nations.”
That same day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced new operations in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon. The Israeli military said Sunday that it killed the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, as well as the group’s head of engineering, and that it “struck several launchers and a military infrastructure site from which Hezbollah terrorists operated in the area of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.”
“These activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and pose a threat to Israeli civilians,” the IDF said in a statement Sunday.
Israel and Hezbollah remain publicly committed to a ceasefire agreement signed on November 27 but have repeatedly accused one another of violating their truce.
Last month, as the IDF conducted its first major strike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut since the ceasefire agreement, a spokesperson for Hezbollah told Newsweek that “Hezbollah is currently standing behind the state to implement the resolutions.
“There is an agreement, and it must be respected,” the spokesperson said. “Israel is breaking its promises.”
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, became the first leader of the Catholic Church from the Americas in March 2013, following a rare resignation by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Francis was known for his outspoken support toward a more progressive and inclusive direction for the Catholic Church. He also spoke frequently on foreign policy matters, though his campaigns for peace in the Middle East led to a complex, often strained relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli premier praised Pope Francis during their first meeting at the Vatican in December 2013 as they discussed calls for a lasting solution in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two continued these consultations during their second meeting in Israel in May 2014, when Francis also challenged the Israeli premier’s claim that Jesus spoke Hebrew as his first language, noting that Jesus instead primarily spoke Aramaic, sparking a somewhat awkward yet largely amicable viral moment.
Netanyahu’s administration grew more critical the following year when the Vatican formally recognized Palestinian statehood, calling it a setback in diplomatic ties between Israel and the Holy See, which were established in 1993. Francis continued over the years to discuss the suffering of Palestinians, while also expressing his appreciation for Jewish history and the need for greater interfaith engagement between Christians, Jews and Muslims.
The dynamic between Francis and the Israeli government became decidedly more tense after the outbreak of the current war in Gaza. While Francis also frequently called on Hamas to release the hostages it held since its October 2023 attack and consistently condemned violence on all sides, Israeli officials accused the pontiff at times of drawing equivalencies between Israel and its foes.
After Francis accused the IDF of “cruelty” in a series of strikes targeting Gaza last December, the Israeli Foreign Ministry slammed his remarks as “particularly disappointing,” accusing him of “double standards and the singling out of the Jewish state and its people.”
Francis, who earlier argued that Israel’s operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon went “beyond morality,” continued to intensify criticism of Israeli wartime actions at the beginning of this year. In remarks delivered to diplomats via one of his aides in January, he referred to the situation in Gaza as “very serious and shameful.”
“War is always a failure! The involvement of civilians, especially children, and the destruction of infrastructures is not only a disaster, but essentially means that between the two sides only evil emerges the winner,” Francis said in the conveyed remarks at the time. “We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians or the attacking of infrastructures necessary for their survival. We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit.”
Later that month, Francis praised the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas. The truce would soon unravel, however, as Israel resumed strikes against Gaza in March.
Hamas, in a statement issued Monday: “The Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] extends its deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the global Catholic Church and to all Christians on the passing of Pope Francis, the Pope of the Vatican, who passed away after a life devoted to upholding human and religious values.
“Pope Francis was widely known for his unwavering advocacy of interfaith dialogue, his calls for global understanding and peace, and his firm stance against hatred and racism. He consistently opposed aggression and warfare, and was a prominent religious voice in denouncing war crimes and acts of genocide, including those committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
“Greatly commending late Francis’s ethical and humanitarian stances, we, in the Hamas Movement, reaffirm the importance of continued efforts and cooperation among followers of divine religions and all free people to confront injustice and colonialism, and to uphold the principles of justice, freedom, and the rights of oppressed peoples worldwide.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in a statement issued Monday: “I send my deepest condolences to the Christian world and especially the Christian communities in Israel – the Holy Land – on the loss of their great spiritual father, His Holiness Pope Francis. A man of deep faith and boundless compassion, he dedicated his life to uplifting the poor and calling for peace in a troubled world. He rightly saw great importance in fostering strong ties with the Jewish world and in advancing interfaith dialogue as a path toward greater understanding and mutual respect.
“I truly hope that his prayers for peace in the Middle East and for the safe return of the hostages will soon be answered. May his memory continue to inspire acts of kindness, unity, and hope.”
Following the death of a pope, the College of Cardinals begins the process of choosing a new Catholic Church leader via secret ballots to achieve a two-thirds majority. White smoke over the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel indicates a successful election, while black smoke indicates the burning of ballots to be followed by a new round of voting.
Meanwhile, the conflict in the Middle East shows little sign of abating as Israel continued to conduct operations across Gaza on Monday.